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Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

Posted on Monday, November 20, 2006 1:58 PM

Autodesk has filed suit against the Open Design Alliance in US District Court in Seattle alleging trademark infringement. The complaint is based on the ODA’s implementation of its DWGdirect software libraries that read and write the AutoCAD 2007 DWG format.

Autodesk is requesting a preliminary injunction that would order ODA and all licensees to stop distribution of products containing DWGdirect 2007 libraries, to recall all products containing DWGdirect 2007 code, to identify to Autodesk any recipients of the DWGdirect 2007 code, and to correct any DWG files “that contain or mimic the unauthorized Autodesk watermarks or TrustedDWG code.”

Autodesk alleges in its complaint that, by causing AutoCAD 2007 to accept DWG files not created by Autodesk products, the ODA “is intentionally inducing licensees of its DWGdirect libraries to infringe Autodesk’s trademarks and to misrepresent the origin, sponsorship or approval of DWG files created by their programs.” As filed with the federal court, the complaint continues, “Moreover, as the maker and distributor of the DWGdirect libraries, Defendant directly controls the instrumentality used by its licensees to infringe Autodesk’s trademarks and to mislead consumers about the origin, sponsorship or approval of DWG files created by licensees’ programs.”

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  --RSN

Feedback

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/20/2006 2:41 PM by French
Is Autodesk upset becasue of the attempt by ODA to generate DWG files that mimic the trueDWG code? or is the reason deeper and Autodesk does not like the fact that the ODA is providing with read and write capabilities to so many other vendors?

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/21/2006 8:36 AM by Sherman
My guess is:
that since the DWG format was changed in the 2007 release of AutoCAD any program that reads or writes to the new format is based on backward engineering, which equals theft. And when things get stolen, like the IP property that is owned by someone else, then a law suit is the result.

Real question here is why someone else thought it was ok to steel from Autodesk?

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/21/2006 12:43 PM by R. Paul Waddington - cadWest
Sherman assumes theft has occurred, guilty even before the hearings have started. The court will decide but one must keep in mind two designers can solve the same problem different ways and there are many instance of this. ODA and its backers have much more to lose than Autodesk and 'real theft' would appear to be an option they would avoid. So, be warned if arriving at a solution, using your own intelligence and observation, is found to be theft then all designers/inventors need to be very careful, even improvements on another's design or product must then be assumed to be successful as a result of 'theft'.

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/21/2006 1:26 PM by Mike
Sherman also assumes this is just the 2007 format. Autodesk is quite clear on their DWG file format, it is not Open Source. So why are you limiting it to 2007???? AutoCAD 2006, 2004, 2002, 2000(i), r14, r13, r12… are all the same. By your assertion any program that writes any of these formats would also be theft if not licensed by Autodesk. Well here is the problem, while the DWG file format is not Open Source, Autodesk did not create the format nor can they legally clame it as their own (otherwise they would have) or have any rights over who uses it.

The “TrustedDWG” digital mark is different, it was created by Autodesk (as far as I know) and the courts I guess will sort that out.

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/22/2006 9:11 AM by Sherman
And the misrepresenting of the trusted DWG would be fraud, unless the DWG was created by an actual Autodesk AutoCAD product. Since the DWG spec was changed by Autodesk in 2007, and in 2004 and in 2002, it would appear that they do own some sort of rights to the DWG format.

As I read the legal stuff it appears that someone else has DWG libraries that are forced into AutoCAD 2007 and flip the trusted flag. Rather like a maker of hand bags making a knock off. In both cases not legal, and I don't see the filing of the brief in court to be an allegation. At least it doesn't read that way to me.
Courts frequently see things differently than the rest of us so who knows.

The Question still is why did someone else think that this was ok and why didn’t they contact the maker of the software that they want to force things into?

# re: Autodesk Sues Open Design Alliance for Trademark Infringement

11/22/2006 10:33 AM by Shawn
.DOC and .PDF files are 'owned' by their respective software vendors, but many other vendors create tools to read/write/print them (such as Open Office, or AcroPlot)

The difference here is that Autodesk has "created" (more like skillfully marketed) a system in "TrustedDWG" that says "If you aren't getting a TrustedDWG, then it's not a real DWG." To me, that's marketing hype.

The content of the DWG what's at issue here. Autodesk is trying to lay claim to .DWG content that I choose not to create with a Autodesk-based DWG editor.

This opens up precedent on many levels: 1) other vendors can follow suit and place bit/byte tools in similar fashion, forcing you to use their tools only. 2) This spits on Open Source anything.

Bottom line: I want to create my data in the format and with the tools that I choose, not that a vendor forces me to choose. You complain about other companies and "Big Brother". If this lawsuit goes the way of Autodesk, you'll not be able to choose anything other than their tools to see YOUR DATA in "their" format.
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