Synopsis

Autodesk claims the exclusive right to create files that contain its registered trademark inside the file. This appears to be a novel legal claim with potentially far-reaching ramifications. To many industry watchers, this case represents a new front in a wider war between consumers and large corporations.

Introduction

Ostensibly, this lawsuit is about a CAD (Computer Aided Drafting) file format known as DWG. Use of the DWG file format is widespread, with estimates of billions of DWG files in use throughout the world. Technically, the lawsuit is about trademark infringement. Autodesk embeds its trademark (the word "Autodesk") in DWG files that it creates (a technique they call TrustedDWG). Open Design Alliance (ODA), in an effort to produce "trusted" DWG files, recreated the trademark in DWG files that their software libraries produced. Autodesk charged that by doing so, ODA used the Autodesk trademark illegally.

Docket History

Shows official court docket events obtained via PACER

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