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Subject:Manual gets banned From:Mark Levinson <mark -at- SD -dot- CO -dot- IL> Date:Wed, 3 May 1995 12:37:25 IDT
It's seldom a reference manual hits the news, but...
-- Quote --
FLOMERICS WINS PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST
FLUID DYNAMICS INTERNATIONAL FOR COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT
Court Orders Recall of Reference Manual for FDI's ICEPAK Software
The US District Court in Worcester, Massachusetts, at the request of
Flomerics Limited, has issued a preliminary injunction against Illinois-
based Fluid Dynamics International, Inc. (FDI) with respect to the
reference manual for FDI's new product, 'ICEPAK'. The court order
requires FDI to discontinue marketing or supplying the current version
of the ICEPAK Reference Manual in hard copy, magnetic, or electronic
form, and to recall all copies which have been issued.
Flomerics Ltd, developer of FLOTHERM, the market leader in software
for the thermal analysis of electronic systems, filed suit in January
1995 against FDI, in connection with the ICEPAK software and reference
manual, for copyright infringement and trade secret misappropriation.
Represented by the Boston firm of Bingham, Dana and Gould, Flomerics
claims that FDI, in producing ICEPAK, has misappropriated and copied
key components of the FLOTHERM software and reference manual.
On Wednesday March 29 1995, US District Judge Nathanial M. Gordon
granted Flomerics' request for an immediate preliminary injunction
on its claim that FDI violated United States Copyright law. The
Memorandum and Order issued by the Court states that the ICEPAK
Reference Manual contains "... numerous instances of substantial
copying of creative, expressive language...". Furthermore, it
states that "(i)need [sic], the copying in the ICEPAK manual is so
blatant that it repeats verbatim phrases, and even an algebraic
error, found in the FLOTHERM manual."
-- End quote --
Thus begins a press release issued by Flomerics. Did you notice
it says "creative, expressive language"? Wow, I'd be willing to
go to court to hear that...
_________________________________________________________________________
Mark L. Levinson | E-mail: mark -at- sd -dot- co -dot- il
Summit Design (EDA) Ltd. | Voice: +972-9-507102, ext. 230 (work),
Box 544 | +972-9-552411 (home)
46105 Herzlia, ISRAEL | Fax: +972-9-509118
_________________________________________________________________________
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