Intellectual Property Law

Autodesk and Open Design Alliance Settle Remaining Part of Trademark Dispute

By Michael Atkins

What remained of the trademark dispute between Autodesk, Inc., and Open Design Alliance has settled. (See previous STL posts on the Western District part of the dispute here, here, here, and here.)

Autodesk sells design, engineering, and entertainment software, including AUTOCAD computer-aided design (CAD) software. The Seattle-based Open Design Alliance is an association of CAD customers and vendors that promote open industry-standard formats for the exchange of CAD data.

The dispute centered on Open Design Alliance’s use and registration of an open drawing format for CAD data called OPENDWG, which Autodesk claimed infringed its trademark rights in DWG.

In 2007, the parties entered a stipulated Consent Judgment that disposed of the Western District portion of the suit (summarized here).

Autodesk summarized the settlement of the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board portion as follows: “Autodesk initiated proceedings with the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) in 2007 to cancel the ODA’s DWG-based trademark registrations to avoid confusion with Autodesk’s established DWG brand and trademark. The ODA has agreed to cancel its DWG-based trademark registrations and cease use of DWG and DWG-based trademarks in its product marketing and branding, and Autodesk has agreed to withdraw the cancellation proceedings with the TTAB. The settlement does not preclude ODA from developing interoperable software or from using the .dwg extension in its file names. Terms and conditions of the settlement agreement are confidential.”

The case cite is Autodesk, Inc. v. Open Design Alliance, Cancellation No. 92047002 (TTAB). 

Full post as published by Seattle Trademark Lawyer on April 12, 2010 (boomark / email).