Court agrees with Adobe's "tabbed palettes" patent infringement suit. Macromedia ordered to pay 2.8 million US dollars in damages; shipping injunction possible.
The immediate question is whether the court will grant an injunction, preventing Macromedia from shipping infringing software. Flash MX, presumably, isn't affected since it doesn't use tabbed palettes. But Macromedia would have to stop selling Flash 5 - which they do to continue supporting Generator. Current versions of Dreamweaver, Freehand and Fireworks also use tabbed palettes.
According to the CNET article, the first of two countersuits will be heard by the same court next week. It's possible that Macromedia will also win damages if Adobe is found to have breached certain patents in its GoLive and Photoshop products.
Replies: 8 comments
1) Lame-O. Next thing you know Adobe will be bitching about the fact that all Macromedia applications have a color-picker.
posted by JR (), 05/04/2002 07:35 PM CST
2) P.S. I want to sue Adobe for wasting my f*in tax dollars on this.
posted by JR (), 05/04/2002 07:37 PM CST
3) ya know, I've been keeping my adobe apps fairly up-to-date, even though I work almost exclusively with web-dev. I've done this, because sometimes it saves by behind on a job or npo project and to keep my skills sharp.
To be honest, I dont' like the adobe interface. And I don't like the sour grapes taste of this lawsuit. And I'm not likely to buy the next version of their software. I'm a geek and an artist...I dont' respond well to bullys, period.
posted by disgruntled (), 05/04/2002 10:28 PM CST
4) re: disgruntled's comment
Does this mean you will stop using Apple's products? They are doing the same thing to Sorenson.
Potato
posted by Mr Potato (), 05/05/2002 12:38 PM CST
5) Dude, Adobe's just pissed because theyre only really any good for print.
posted by Dude-man (), 05/05/2002 03:56 PM CST
6) can't we all just have a pow-wow?
posted by Mike. (), 05/07/2002 01:36 AM CST
7) If it wasn't for Photoshop, Adobe would simply sink. Lets face it, how many of us use its other products (with the possible exception of Acrobat!)
posted by RazoRmedia (), 05/07/2002 03:37 AM CST
8) Oh come on fools!!! Lets get one thing straight, the adobe interface is superior - that's why macromedia have copied it! and now they are paying for it!
Further more Adobe wouldn't sink without photoshop, have you all forgotten about premiere, after effects, illustrator and in-design?
Sure photoshop is the flagship and biggest earner, but the other apps aren't shipped out of charity you know, they make money, adobe is a business after all. it may seem pedantic to us for adobe to sue macromedia over the interface, but adobe have a competitive advantage to maintain.
certainly flash and dreamweaver are the best in their field, but freehand is recognised being second best to illustrator. and the best thing about fireworks and the only compelling reason to use it over photoshop or image ready is the superior jpeg/gif compression it has.
posted by urbanclearway (), 05/15/2002 07:52 AM CST
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