San Francisco

A federal judge has dismissed a copyright infringement lawsuit filed by Jacksonville, Fla.-based Tempus Software against McKesson HBOC, San Francisco, at Tempus' request.

According to Tempus officials, McKesson deleted the scheduling software in question from its computer system. In the lawsuit filed in August 1999, Tempus alleged that McKesson incorporated Tempus technology into its own software. Because the key evidence no longer existed, Tempus concluded it could not properly prosecute its case, officials said, and moved for dismissal.

McKesson officials denied mishandling evidence.

"Tempus is mischaracterizing some things that happened in the normal course of business," said Larry Kurtz, McKesson's vice president of corporate communications and investor relations. "Had they had any case that this `evidence' had been destroyed, they could have pursued it. It's a very serious charge, and there would have been a whole investigation of that issue. The fact is, there was no evidence that any evidence ever existed. Their statement is totally misleading, and any implication that we destroyed evidence that was material to their case is false."