Sun Microsystems plans to countersue Network Appliance later this week, Chief Executive Jonathan Schwartz said Wednesday, a suit that will include a request to remove the company's products from the market.

You may have read in News Picks recently that Sun won a partial stay in the NetApp patent lawsuit over ZFS, according to IP Law 360:A judge has partly stayed software company Network Appliance Inc.'s patent lawsuit against rival Sun Microsystems Inc. over Sun's ZFS technology, pending the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's re-examination of one of the patents in the suit.

Law suits sparked by patent infringement claims are risky ventures. They hardly ever make either party look good, and they are anything but sure bets as revenue producers - unless you're an attorney. Therefore, when they do happen, those involved usually go out of their way to keep all but the essential facts of the case from public view.

In recent weeks, Sun Microsystems GC Mike Dillon and CEO Jonathan Schwartz have been blogging about their company's IP battle with Network Appliances, trading barbs with NetApp co-founder Dave Hitz, who has been commenting on the case on his own blog.

Recently, I did an update on the Sun/NetApp litigation, but now there is something better, an update by Matt Dillon, Sun's General Counsel. What a great name for a lawyer. He says thank you to all who helped with prior art: After NetApp sued Sun, we responded with six reexamination requests on the patents asserted by NetApp.

Jonathan Schwartz is a man on a mission. While at Linuxworld today, I took an hour to visit with Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun Microsystems.

When Network Appliance first announced it had filed a lawsuit against Sun Microsystems early in September over alleged patent infringement in ZFS, I didn't know what to make of it.

I thought you'd want to know that Sun's general counsel, Mike Dillon, has posted the latest on the NetApp v. Sun litigation. Sun has filed its Answer with Counterclaims to NetApp's Complaint in Texas, and it has also filed a Complaint in California.

Dave Hitz, CEO at NetApp, has posted his view on the latest happenings in the NetApp v. Sun patent litigation.