Adobe wins $2.8m from Macromedia

Adobe has won its lawsuit against Macromedia, claiming that its rival had infringed patents.

A jury in the District Court of Delaware agreed that Macromedia's Flash Web animation tool infringed on Adobe's 'tabbed palettes' and awarded Adobe $2.8m in damages.

Adobe, which had filed the lawsuit in August 2000, said that it expected a judicial injunction which would prevent Macromedia from selling its Flash Web product.

Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president of Adobe's graphics business unit, said: "While we would have preferred to settle this issue out of court, we are satisfied that the validity of this key innovation has been upheld."

Macromedia did not comment on whether or not it would appeal against the court ruling.

In turn, Macromedia has filed a countersuit for patent infringement against Adobe's Photoshop image-editing software and its GoLive Web software, which is scheduled to be heard in the same court on Monday, 6 March.

A second Macromedia countersuit against Adobe filed last year has not yet been given a trial date.

See also:

Adobe and Macromedia in court

Two-year Flash patent dispute finally gets into courtroom  29 Apr 2002

Adobe sues rival over palettes

Web publishing software vendor Adobe Systems has accused rival Macromedia of patent infringement.  12 Aug 2000

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