Autodesk announced last week that a settlement has been reached in a 2003 lawsuit against German software developer Torsten Moses. Autodesk charged Moses with copyright violations related to his LT-Extender software. This week, according to a German language email that I have obtained, Autodesk Gmbh in Munich is offering LT-Extender users a discounted crossgrade to AutoCAD along with a promise of legal amnesty if they take advantage of the offer by April 30.
These announcements have created a stir in Germany, where by many accounts the combination of AutoCAD LT and LT-Extender have been very popular. It is not clear whether the amnesty email was targeted specifically to LT-Extender customers, but the German language email includes the ominous statement (roughly translated):
Furthermore, the customer database of T. Moses has been seized by the authorities.
LT-Extender circumvents the built-in AutoCAD LT software locks and enables them in violation of copyright. LT-Extender violates the copyrights of Autodesk. The use of LT-Extender is therefore unlawful. Individual users and the companies whose employees use the LT-Extender must remove LT-Extender or risk prosecution. Managing Directors may be held personally liable for the unauthorized use of copyrighted works.
This is followed by the amnesty offer (roughly translated):
Since the developer of LT-Extender marketed it as a legitimate tool, some of our customers may have been unaware of the legal consequences.
To protect injured clients from further harm, we offer these customers a way to legal certainty and to acquire the functionality of AutoCAD. Autodesk will waive legal claims against customers who act within the amnesty period until 30 April 2009. To facilitate the transition for affected customers, Autodesk offers these customers until April 30, 2009 a comprehensive 30% discount on a legal crossgrade to AutoCAD or an AutoCAD vertical product, plus subscription.
The implication is clear: if you are using LT-Extender, you could be Autodesk's next target for prosecution. What isn't so clear is what exactly the German court found in this case. In comments on Ralph Grabowski's WorldCAD Access blog, Torsten Moses implies that the latest version of LT-Extender is not infringing. One possibility is that Moses saw that he was facing stiff penalties for earlier versions that were found to be infringing, and so agreed to hand over his customer list and cease distribution even of a non-infringing newer version in exchange for a reduction in fines.
Unless and until one or both parties to the lawsuit produce court documents, we can only guess about what legal findings were made, if any. Regardless of the facts, Autodesk is taking advantage of the opportunity to create some angst among the LT-Extender customer base, and no doubt convince many to purchase AutoCAD licenses.