Russian police have raided the Moscow-based subsidiary of an American technology company amid a fight between one of Russia's largest online portals and a former worker.
Investigators searched the offices of Nginx, one of the world's most popular web servers, and the homes of its founders on December 12 following a criminal complaint filed by Rambler Group, which is majority-owned by Russian billionaire Aleksandr Mamut and state-owned lender Sberbank.
Nginx was co-founded by Igor Sysoyev and Maksim Konovalov, who both previously worked for Rambler. The two sold the company to U.S.-based F5 Networks earlier this year for $670 million.
Rambler is now claiming ownership of Nginx's web server code because Sysoyev began to develop it while working for Rambler in the early 2000s.
"Therefore, any use of the program without the permission of Rambler Group is a violation of exclusive rights," the company said in a statement.
Konovalov called the Rambler claim "dumb and outright racketeering."
