Problems are surfacing concerning the rights to a Mac compatible software product called Tri-BACKUP — or Backup Toolkit or Data Backup, depending on the company that handles it. Whatever you call it, FWB Software is currently involved in a legal dispute with Tri-Edre over the product.
In a letter sent to MacCentral, Thierry Rolland, CEO of Tri-Edre, which is based in France, said that his company was the author of Tri-BACKUP and owns all rights to the software.
“Tri-BACKUP was previously distributed by FWB in USA (rebranded as Backup Toolkit),” Rolland wrote. “The distribution authorization granted to FWB was terminated the 29th of April, but the product is still proposed illegally by FWB. We asked many times FWB to stop selling our product, but they continue in violation of our agreement.”
Thierry said he wants the Mac community to know that any version of Backup Toolkit purchased from FWB after the April 29 “is an illegal version, and will not be eligible for upgrades.” He said the official distributor of Tri-BACKUP in USA is Prosoft Engineering, which has rebranded the product as Data Backup.
However, Mark Prewitt, FWB’s vice president of sales and marketing, described the situation as a “a legal dispute with Mr. Rolland and Tri-Edre over his breach of our exclusive US distribution agreement of his software that expires in August 2003.” FWB’s name and assets changed hands in the summer of 2002, and the “new” FWB acquired the “old” FWB’s exclusive arrangement to distribute Tri-Edre products in the US, Prewitt told MacCentral.
He said that they have an agreement that runs from August 2, 2002 to August 2, 2003 between FWB Software Inc. and Tri-Edre that gives them the exclusive distribution rights in the US. Despite this, Tri-Edre signed an exclusive arrangement with Pro-Soft to sell their products in the U.S., giving them two exclusive distributors in the U.S. under contract, Prewitt added.
Since they have a contract, they will continue to sell Backup Toolkit, he said. He added that he regrets that it’s come down to litigation and that Rolland has made a “private legal issue public.”