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The settlement decision in the Avanti criminal case is a landmark judgment against both one of the world's top EDA companies and the legal system itself.
In legal parlance, the plea of no contest against charges of trade-secrets theft, conspiracy and securities fraud implies neither the guilt nor innocence of the defendants charged in the case. But, in the common sense of the marketplace, it states in bold language the defendants did not believe they could present a successful defense and are, by extension, guilty.
Since a 1995 raid that seized key evidence, Avanti has been allowed to build a company on the back of what is widely suspected and now uncontested to be stolen...