NSDA Nassda Corp (MM)

Shareholder Class Action Filed Against Nassda Corporation By The Law Firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP BALA CYNWYD, Pa., July 29 /PRNewswire/ -- The following statement was issued today by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP: Notice is hereby given that a class action lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of all purchasers of the common stock of Nassda Corporation (NASDAQ:NSDA) from December 13, 2001 through June 11, 2004, inclusive (the "Class Period"). If you wish to discuss this action or have any questions concerning this notice or your rights or interests with respect to these matters, please contact Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP (Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Darren J. Check, Esq.) toll-free at 1-888-299-7706 or 1-610-667-7706, or via e-mail at . The complaint charges Nassda and certain of its officers and directors with violations of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Nassda is a provider of full-chip circuit simulation and analysis software for the design and verification of complex nanometer-scale semiconductors. According to the complaint, Nassda began licensing its software in July 1999. Nassda's founders are all former employees of Synopsys Corporation ("Synopsys"), the world's second-largest maker of electronic design automation software. Synopsys filed two suits against the Company, including a complaint in state court that alleges misappropriation of trade secrets and a suit in federal court charging patent infringement. Synopsys is the owner of United States Patent No. 5,878,053 (the "'053 patent"), entitled "Hierarchical Power Network Simulation and Analysis Tool for Reliability Testing of Deep Submicron Designs." The complaint alleges that during the Class Period, Nassda was infringing on the Synopsys '053 patent by making, using, selling, distributing, advertising, marketing and creating source code for products, including Nassda's Hierarchical Storage and Isomorphic Matching ("HSIM") software product. Synopsys has alleged that Nassda has actively induced infringement of, or contributed to the infringement of, the '053 patent by making infringing products and creating source code for infringing products and then selling, distributing, advertising and marketing those infringing products to others. Synopsys gave Nassda actual notice of the '053 patent and sought from Nassda information that would assist Synopsys in further investigating the extent to which Nassda's products are within the scope of each claim of the '053 patent. Nassda refused to provide substantive information in response to this request. Synopsys informed Nassda that it was infringing the '053 patent, but Nassda has continued to pursue its infringing activities. Several current employees of Nassda were formerly key employees of Synopsys who left Synopsys en masse to develop Nassda's infringing product. These employees knew or should have known that their actions, in creating, selling and distributing Nassda's infringing software products, constituted patent infringement. On January 10, 2003, a judge ruled that some of Nassda's founders copied proprietary source code from Synopsys to help develop their software. The judge found that certain former Synopsys employees viewed Synopsys products days before leaving Synopsys and then used those products to develop Nassda's programs used in semiconductor design. These disclosures caused Nassda's stock to decline by 50% to less than $6 per share before closing at $7.10 per share on January 10, 2003, on volume of more than 5.7 million shares. Then on Monday, June 14, 2004, Nassda revealed that the California state court on June 11, 2004 issued orders against Nassda and individual defendants named in the litigation with Synopsys. These orders limited Nassda's defenses regarding the timing and the development of the initial HSIM source code and the evidence that Nassda and the remaining individual defendants could present at trial. The court's orders established as fact that the first 60,000 lines of source code of HSIM and all ideas and concepts reflected therein were derived from Synopsys's source code or other Synopsys materials while the individual defendants were employed by Synopsys. The court also ruled that Nassda and the individual defendants acted in concert to intentionally alter, destroy, lose or misplace items requested in discovery and conceal evidence. The Company's shares plummeted to below $4.00 per share on this news. Plaintiff seeks to recover damages on behalf of class members and is represented by the law firm of Schiffrin & Barroway, which prosecutes class actions in both state and federal courts throughout the country. Schiffrin & Barroway is a driving force behind corporate governance reform, and has recovered in excess of a billion dollars on behalf of institutional and high net worth individual investors. For more information about Schiffrin & Barroway, or to sign up to participate in this action online, please visit http://www.sbclasslaw.com/. If you are a member of the class described above, you may, not later than September 27, 2004, move the Court to serve as lead plaintiff of the class, if you so choose. A lead plaintiff is a representative party that acts on behalf of other class members in directing the litigation. In order to be appointed lead plaintiff, the Court must determine that the class member's claim is typical of the claims of other class members, and that the class member will adequately represent the class. Under certain circumstances, one or more class members may together serve as "lead plaintiff." Your ability to share in any recovery is not, however, affected by the decision whether or not to serve as a lead plaintiff. You may retain Schiffrin & Barroway, or other counsel of your choice, to serve as your counsel in this action. CONTACT: Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP Marc A. Topaz, Esq. Darren J. Check, Esq. Three Bala Plaza East, Suite 400 Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004 1-888-299-7706 (toll-free) or 1-610-667-7706 Or by e-mail at DATASOURCE: Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP CONTACT: Marc A. Topaz, Esq. or Darren J. Check, Esq., both of Schiffrin & Barroway, LLP, +1-888-299-7706, +1-610-667-7706 or Web site: http://www.sbclasslaw.com/

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