While Macromedia executives are releasing a wave of new applications (including web design tool, Dreamweaver MX and graphics program Fireworks MX), company lawyers will be in court for the beginning of a contentious patent suit against Adobe.
Adobe filed the suit in August 2000, alleging that the user interface of Macromedia's Flash Web animation tool infringes on Adobe's patent for "tabbed palettes," a feature that allows users of design software to rearrange the work space on the PC screen.
Macromedia responded soon after that with a countersuit, charging that Adobe's Photoshop image-editing software and its GoLive Web design software infringe on two patents that Macromedia holds for editing tools.
Adobe and Macromedia representatives confirmed that a jury trial for the original Adobe suit is scheduled to begin Monday in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del.--located in the same building where the Delaware Chancery Court is playing host to the star-studded Hewlett-Packard trial. The Macromedia countersuit is expected to go before a jury shortly after the original case is decided.
News source: ZDNet
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