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What's New in X MR2
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New Hardware Configuration by Dell
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Landmark Ruling On Software Piracy
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CUSTOMER LETTERS
Greg:I just wanted to let you know how much we here at The Kinetic Company appreciate Mike and the fine help he has given us thus far. Even though we are newbees to Mastercam, it was he that sold us on the product in the first place and he is always there. He is easily accessible and willing to help us out with all of the Mastercam products. It's always nice to know that a company such as yours backs up what they say in regards to support. Between Mike and the training down at your facility, this whole project went a lot smoother then I thought it would.We are tickled pink thus far and hopefully there is more tickling to be had in the future.Best Regards,
Rodney Mattrisch Sr. Methods & Standards Estimator The Kinetic Company Phone: 414-425-8221 FAX: 414-425-7927
MASTERCAM NEWS
Items of interest:
MASTERCAM MERCHANDISE
Mastercam Mill X Training Manual (In House)
Complete manual that covers Menu Layout, Part Design, Job Setup, 2D & 3D Toolpath, Backplot, Verify & Postprocessing. $65.00
Mastercam Lathe X Training Manual (In House)
Complete manual that covers Menu Layout, Part Design, Job Setup, 2D & 3D Toolpath, Backplot, Verify & Postprocessing. $50.00
Mastercam Wire X Training Manual (In House)
Complete manual that covers Menu Layout, Part Design, Job Setup, 2D & 3D Toolpath, Backplot, Verify & Postprocessing. $50.00
Mastercam Mill Demo Disk
Practice the functions covered in the Mill Training manual with this demo disk. Create geometry and do all types of toolpaths. You cannot save files and NC code has limited accuracy. An excellent practice tool. $25.00
Mastercam Combo Learning Package
Mastercam Mill Training Manual. Mastercam Draft to create 2D & 3D drawings, & save practice files. Mastercam Demo Disk to practice all 2D & 3D toolpaths. An excellent design system & Mastercam learning tool for your home computer. $250.00
LANDMARK RULING ON SOFTWARE PIRACY
COURT ISSUES PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION AGAINST MAKER OF PRODUCTS THAT DISABLE SOFTWARE PROTECTION LOCKS
HARTFORD, Dec. 14 -- A federal judge ordered a Florida company to stop developing and distributing products that disable locking devices used by a Connecticut-based software vendor to protect its software from pirates.
The decision is significant for software vendors that use locking devices to prevent pirates from using their software without paying any license fees.
In the December 10th preliminary injunction ruling based on copyright and trademark infringement grounds, U. S. District Court Judge Christopher F. Droney ordered that, during the pendency of the case at issue, the defendants must refrain from developing and distributing products which disable or render useless the software locking mechanisms which the software vendor, Tolland-based CNC Software, Inc., distributes with its Mastercam® software. The Court also held that during the proceedings, the defendants must refrain from using CNC Software's Mastercam® trademark in advertising, packaging and order forms.
The St. Augustine-based defendants, Pro Solutions, Inc., doing business as "Imagine That", and the company's owners Joseph and Beth Montoro, develop and distribute software products called "Icelock" and "Rivalock", which allow users to operate unauthorized copies of CNC Software's Mastercam® CAD/CAM software, as well as other popular software products, without the locking devices. The locks are known in the industry as software interface modules or "SIMs". The defendants describe themselves as "Hardware Lock Removal Experts".
"This is an important ruling for CNC Software," said CNC Software Vice-President and co-founder Mark Summers. "We have been developing and enhancing our Mastercam® software since the early 1980's and we depend on license fees received from users of the software. Unfortunately, Imagine That's products were making it easy for people to disable our SIMs and to use unauthorized copies of our software without paying any license fees to CNC Software. The Court's decision sends a clear signal to software pirates in the market that CNC Software intends to continue aggressively enforcing its intellectual property rights on a worldwide basis."
In the order, the Court found, among other things, that plaintiff CNC Software had demonstrated that CNC Software is subject to irreparable harm and is likely to succeed on the merits of the copyright and trademark infringement parts of its case. The Court declined to reach the question of whether the defendants are violating certain anti-circumvention prohibitions contained in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which President Clinton signed into law on October 28, 1998. CNC Software had amended its complaint and its preliminary injunction moving papers to include a claim under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act only one day after its signing.
Regarding CNC Software's copyright infringement claim, the Court stated: "The Court finds that customers of Imagine That made unauthorized copies of the MASTERCAM® program using Imagine That's software. The Court finds that Imagine That induced its customers to make these copies through its advertising and materially contributed to their ability to engage in this infringing conduct through the sale of its software to them."
The Court cited the United States Supreme Court's 1984 ruling in a cased entitled Sony Corporation of American. Universal City Studios, Inc., noting that contributory copyright infringement does not exist where the accused product is "widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes". However, the Court distinguished the Sony case, involving the public's use of Sony's home video tape recorders to make recordings of television broadcasts for their own use, from the instant case. "The Court is not persuaded by the claimed non-infringing uses offered for Imagine That's products and finds that the products are not widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable, non-infringing purposes. The defendants have offered no credible evidence that their products are widely used for legitimate, unobjectionable purposes."
The Court also concluded that, as to the defendants' use of CNC Software's Mastercam® trademark, "that there is a likelihood that an appreciable number of ordinarily prudent purchasers of MASTERCAM® and Imagine That's product are likely to be misled or simply confused concerning the source of Imagine That's products or sponsorship or approval of those products by CNC." Citing the eight-factor test used by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in a case entitled Polaroid Corp. Polaroid Electronics Corp., the Court concluded that CNC Software is likely to succeed on the merits of its trademark infringement claim.
CNC Software (www.mastercam.com), a leading supplier of CAD/CAM software, is represented in the lawsuit by the law firm of Brown Raysman Millstein Felder & Steiner LLP (www.brownraysman.com), with offices in New York, Hartford, Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey.
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