The Adobe Macromedia War

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by Aaron West

Macromedia's Turn

September 27, 2000
Macromedia Files Patent Infringement Counterclaims Against Adobe Systems

Read the Press Release Here

Now it's time for Macromedia to make a counter charge. They allege that three Macromedia patents have been unlawfully infringed by Adobe's Illustrator and Premiere products.

Macromedia claims that Adobe Illustrator violates Macromedia's patent for blending shapes and colors between paths. This technology is used in the Freehand line of products. Read the patent.

The other violation involves Adobe Premiere. They claim that Premiere, the popular video editing program, violates two of Macromedia's patents involving waveform editing on computer platforms. Read the first patent. Read the second patent.

Who's Right?

It is obvious to any designer that uses Macromedia and Adobe products that many of their programs are similar in nature.

While the tabbed interface is new to Macromedia, other elements such as Layering, Palettes (panels), the toolbars and tools, are very similar and in many cases identical (eraser tool, bezier tool). Did these two companies 'steal' from each other? I am not a lawyer or a judge, but logic dictates that all these similarities aren't coincidental.

If these companies have stolen or 'borrowed' from each other in the past, so be it. They are probably both equally 'guilty'.

That being so, why then are there any lawsuits here at all? Simple. Both of these companies are alone at the top. Adobe and Macromedia both make outstanding products. Each is the other's only real competition. As a result, each company stands to profit or lose market share based on the result of this lawsuit. This is just another form of competition between these two juggernauts. If Adobe wins the lawsuit, it hurts Macromedia and vice versa. That could be the reason these charges are being made.

Considering the stakes involved here and the nature of the accusations being leveled, I think that it is unlikely that the courts will interfere and force either company to reengineer its entire product line. So lets just hope, whatever the court's decision might be, that both Adobe and Macromedia can put this litigiousness behind them and get back to making outstanding software.

This is not a legal opinion, but the opinion of an avid user of Macromedia and Adobe products for several years now.