AT&T and Lucent face Y2K lawsuit

NEWS AT&T and Lucent Technologies have been accused of selling telecoms software and switching equipment that they knew was not Y2K compliant. Beatie & Osborn, a New York law firm, said the companies knowingly sold the products without telling customers. Both companies - which were once united before Lucent was spun off along with NCR, AT&T's computing arm - are preparing to fight the allegations. The case, should it reach court, is likely to take the form of a potentially costly class-action law suit, allowing aggrieved customers join the action. Alternatively, AT&T and Lucent could have to replace potentially troublesome equipment. An AT&T spokesman said: "We've spent a lot of time on our services and they're all compliant now." Lucent was not available to comment.