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Adobe v Macromedia October
2000
Adobe takes its gloves off in a patent battle with Macromedia.
Macromedia insists there is no case, but both companies are fighting
for the web.
The Internet has provided several quick-witted
companies with a new lease of life. Two of these, Adobe and Macromedia,
were producers of creative software (Adobe largely print-based,
Macromedia aimed more at multimedia) which realised they could gain
a great deal more by supplying first class tools for web design
and management. Adobe's PhotoShop is still market leader when it comes to
image editing, but its LiveMotion encroached on the animated
visuals associated with Flash, Macromedia also producing the renowned
Dreamweaver and Shockwave.
Relations between the two companies, then, have
been competitive for a long time, but have turned more bitter recently
as Adobe has filed a suit against Macromedia for infringement of
a US patent (5,546,528) that covers Adobe's tabbed palettes. The
company claims that Macromedia is copying these palettes in products
such as Flash and Dreamweaver, saying that its competitor has failed
to comply with requests to desist first made in 1996.
Although other companies have made similar "innovations"
to their applications, Macromedia remains Adobe's fiercest competitor
with a number of products: if this suit is successful, however,
others could follow. Adobe has remarked that "competition has
to be based on a level playing field and with respect for each other's
intellectual property." Macromedia, however, denying the claims,
has remarked that it believes the suit "invalid and unenforceable"
and has filed counterclaims for alleged infringement of several
of its patents. "Macromedia has no choice but to vigorously defend
itself against the Adobe lawsuit," said Kevin Lynch, President for
Products at Macromedia.
The case is similar to the "look and feel"
suit brought by Apple against Microsoft several years ago (which
Apple lost). Software patents in the US are attracting a great deal
of attention as companies attempt to protect their investments or
monopolise the market by excluding competitors, depending on your
viewpoint. The case is likely to drag on for some time, and Macromedia
could simply achieve the same effects by slight modifications to
its software: whatever happens, however, the two companies realise
that the future of web production is worth fighting over.
For more information, see www.macromedia.com
and www.adobefacts.com.
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