SolidWorks. AutoDesk. That’s My TradeMark, Not Yours

by Josh on September 25, 2008 · Comments

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This little orange square is raising all sorts of mean looks and a hefty lawsuit from AutoDesk to Dassault Systemes SolidWorks along with a list of other alleged misdeed.

Ralph Grabowski brings up the lawsuit (pdf) filed on September 19th that slaps it’s own lovemark, so to speak, across the cheek of Dassault Systemes SolidWorks for use of DWG in domain names, programs and marketing material and using similar marketing graphics.

The users? who cares.
The CAD users are dumb and are swayed easily. apparently. That’s part of what I get out of this. If this were the other way around and SolidWorks were suing AutoDesk, I’d think it pretty lame because 1) that DWG name/extension, while common, is used all over, which is a good thing that doesn’t need to be tied to a brand. 2) It would be about time for a new and better marketing campaign, especially since the competition has already spent the money on theirs.

It seems to me that AutoDesk is going to loose more money pursuing this than anything it could gain. It’s lost the battle with the Open Design Alliance for rights to the .DWG name…. I’ve officially bored myself. On to cooler things.

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Comments

Tagged as: autodesk, marketing, solidworks

Lars_Denmark

I am not educated enough for all the legal crap, but that pdf was funny read for sure. Hope Solidsmack can keep informing in the progress in this case.
Keep up the good work, great blog.
Lars Christensen
twitter:Lars_Denmark
http://lars-on-blog.blogspot.com/

Josh M

Hey Lars, thanks. I 'll certainly try. while legal stuff is a bit of a bore, the whole mess is interesting and can really influence business and marketing decisions in the future which is the main reason I find it interesting to post.

aldean

Gay.. all of it... just G.A.Y...

Evan Yares

Too bad you're officially bored.

I talked with Carl Bass, CEO of Autodesk, about this issue earlier in the year. He said he doesn't care about legal costs. He made it clear to me that either the ODA would go along with Autodesk's claim for the DWG trademark, or he'd just keep the lawyers going until the ODA bled to death. And, in the same breath, he made it pretty clear that his complaint against the ODA was a proxy for his complaint against SolidWorks using the DWG name in its products.

Oh -- and he wasn't very happy about SolidWorks using the color orange in their ads.

You might think this is all a trivial and meaningless game. Trust me that it's not. Autodesk makes over one billion dollars a year on DWG-based products. This lawsuit is about controlling the DWG name, and locking out competitors.

Josh M

Hey Evan, thanks for stopping by. Nice to know Mr. Bass has his hand on the forehead of the Open Design Alliance. I know you're a tall and wordy guy, but you're also probably nice and I haven't had a chance to meet you face to face, which will probably happen someday.

Ya got me, it's true. I'd rather watch Ironman again for the 5th time than read through the lawsuit again. you game? good scene on 3D CAD futuristic stuff.

Are you a headbutt kinda guy? cause those things hurt. just wonderin'

John

This is hilarious. Autodesk has nothing better to do than sue SolidWorks for the use of a FILE EXTENSION....thats all it is, a file extention. Oh, and using the color ORANGE in marketing campaignes. REALLY?!

If Autodesk was smart they would be focused on the development of their 3D package INVENTOR. They do have a HUGE installed base around the world with their 2D Autocad but SolidWorks has really taken controll of the 3D market.