SolidWorks Bows Out; DWG Goes to Autodesk

Two weeks after its settlement with Autodesk in the legal wrestle over DWG, SolidWorks is giving up its DWG-related trademarks.

Yesterday, SolidWorks filed papers with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s Trademark Trial and Appeal Board (TTAB) to withdraw its application for DWGgateway trademark and surrender its DWGeditor trademark. Furthermore, it withdrew its opposition to Autodesk’s applications for DWGX and RealDWG trademarks (records available at the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board’s online inquiry system).

SolidWork’s retreat leaves Autodesk with near-exclusive right to the use of DWG.

What About ODA?

In January 2007, Autodesk’s filed a petition against ODA with the TTAB to cancel ODA’s DWG-related trademarks (specifically, OpenDWG) on the ground that DWG is “[Autodesk’s] name for the proprietary file format and technology underlying many of its key computer-assisted design (CAD) software products …” Therefore, Autodesk reasoned, “The Registrations [of DWG-related terms as ODA trademarks] have resulted in and will continue to result in confusion in the trade and in the public. Petitioner [Autodesk] has been and will be damaged by the Registrations because, among other things, Petitioner uses a variety of DWG-related names and trademarks with similar goods and services …” (excerpt from papers at TTAB’s archive).

When Autodesk’s civil case against SolidWorks went on trial, Autodesk’s case against ODA before the TTAB was suspended, pending outcome from the former. Now that the civil case has come to an end, the trademark case against ODA must resume.

Over the years, ODA has been gradually expanding its business beyond its initial emphasis on DWG. In 2003, ODA officially changed its name from OpenDWG Alliance to Open Design Alliance. But a significant portion of its members rely on having access to ODA’s reverse-engineered DWG libraries to develop DWG-compatible software products.

Expressing his personal view, ODA president Arnold van der Weide said, “I think what we should do is stop litigating and resolve our issues through normal discussions instead.” Despite the distraction of the trademark case against his company, van der Weide said ODA membership is growing.

Autodesk’s Official DWG Policy

Autodesk’s guideline for legal notices and trademark gives you a good idea of how the company feels DWG should—and should not—be used:

DWG has served and now serves as an Autodesk trademark. Autodesk has never precluded, and does not seek to preclude others from either using .dwg as a file extension or from making software that is compatible with the Autodesk DWG file format. The status of DWG as an Autodesk trademark means, however, that certain uses by others of DWG as a brand, without prior permission from Autodesk, are not permissible.

For Autodesk’s official words about the settlement, read the announcement here.

For background, also read “Open Design Alliance Caught in the Autodesk-SolidWorks Legal Tangle,” July 13, 2009.

For court documents from this case, visit CAD/Court, a site devoted to tracking technology-related lawsuits.