A trial over the intellectual property theft was settled by the computer giant International Business Machines Corp. with software maker Compuware five weeks after the launch.

Compuware accused IBM of obtaining information from the former Compuware employees it had hired that allowed IBM to be more competitive in the market of software products.

IMB began to use its own mainframe computers software in 1999. Earlier, it used the software of Compuware.

Under the terms of settlement, IBM will license $140 million worth of Compuware Corp. software over four years and purchase $260 million worth of Compuware services over four years.

"IBM can continue to distribute our products at the prices we choose to sell them, and that’s a benefit to our customers," IBM spokesman Tim Breuer said on Tuesday.

During the trial new IBM employees from Compuware testified on how the computer giant managed to receive important information on Compuware’s technology. Jill Bertini, who worked for Compuware for six years before moving to IBM, testified that she gave the information to the fellow workers about her estimates of Compuware software market penetrations. "These were my opinions. They were not based on market research or anything Compuware had told me," she said.