Macromedia Inc. today announced that the company won a countersuit against Adobe Systems Inc. The verdict includes a US$4.9 million damages award for Macromedia.
On May 2, Adobe won a jury decision in the U.S. District Court of Delaware against Macromedia for patent infringement and was awarded $2.8 million in damages.
“The score is now Adobe one, Macromedia one, customers zero,” said Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO, Macromedia in a statement. “Macromedia is absolutely committed to defending the right to innovate.”
Adobe claimed that the San Francisco software company violated two of its patents on tabbed palettes, which provide a user interface for displaying several sets of information in the same space. Adobe’s tabbed palettes permit users to drag data or editing effects from within a palette window into another screen. Adobe filed its case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in 2000.
Macromedia countered with a claim that the San Jose, California, publishing software company infringed on Macromedia’s patents for a draw-based editor for Web pages and a hierarchical structure editor for Web sites. Macromedia rejected Adobe’s patent-infringement claims, insisting that Adobe’s patents are unenforceable.
Adobe was found to infringe on all three Macromedia patents. One Patent relates to changing blended elements and automatic re-blending of elements and is infringed by its Adobe Illustrator product. The other two patents relate to visually displaying and editing sound waveforms and are infringed by its Adobe Premiere product. The jury also found one other patent to be invalid.