Macromedia today announced that a jury ruled in its favor in a counterclaims suit against Adobe Systems. The verdict included a damage award of $4.9 million. Macromedia intends to ask the court to issue an injunction to stop Adobe's infringement, and also intends to appeal the verdict in the initial Adobe case.
"The score is now Adobe one, Macromedia one, customers zero," said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia. "Macromedia is absolutely committed to defending the right to innovate."
Adobe was found to infringe all three Macromedia patents. U.S. Patent No. 5,467,443 relates to changing blended elements and automatic re-blending of elements and is infringed by its Adobe Illustrator product. U.S. Patents Nos. 5,151,998 and 5,204,969 relate to visually displaying and editing sound waveforms and are infringed by its Adobe Premiere product. The jury also found U.S. Patent No. 5,151,998 to be invalid.
In October 2001, Macromedia brought a patent infringement suit against Adobe in the Northern District of California relating to additional patents that Macromedia believes that Adobe infringes. This case is scheduled for June 2003.