Microsoft and Symantec have asked a US federal court to dismiss a two-year-old lawsuit after the companies settled a dispute over storage technology.

Symantec sued Microsoft in 2006, charging that Microsoft wrongfully incorporated storage technology from Veritas Software in its XP, Vista and server operating systems.

Symantec bought Veritas for US$10.2 billion [b] in 2004. Under an August 1996 agreement, Microsoft had been allowed to incorporate volume management technology from Veritas in its Windows NT product.

Symantec argued Microsoft overstepped its bounds, although Microsoft said it has rights to the intellectual property. Symantec brought the issue up with Microsoft in 2004, which culminated in a suit filed in US District Court for the Western District of Seattle two years later.

When queried, both companies did not detail the new agreement but said it "reaffirms and extends our technical cooperation on volume management technologies."

"This agreement will produce significant benefits for our many mutual customers using mission-critical storage software technologies," according to a statement.