Adobe Photoshop Sued Over Trade Secrets - Plaintiff
Wed November 20, 2002 04:13 PM ET
CARPINTERIA, Calif. (Reuters) - Adobe Systems Inc. ADBE.O was sued for an alleged misappropriation of trade secrets by the principal developer of Kai's Power Tools, a rival to Adobe's popular Photoshop image editing software, the plaintiff said on Wednesday.
In a statement, Shell and Slate Software Corp. and the company's founder, Ben Weiss, said they filed suit on Monday against Adobe in the U.S. Federal District Court, Central District of California, in Los Angeles.
A spokesman for Adobe was not immediately available to comment.
The suit contains numerous allegations, including misappropriation of trade secrets and breach of contract concerning the "Healing Brush texture-cloning tool" included in Adobe Photoshop 7.0, according to the press statement.
A copy of the lawsuit was not immediately available.
Texture cloning is a feature that allows graphic artists to manipulate images such as removing wrinkles from a picture of a human face.
Shell and Slate, which was founded in November 2000, makes two-dimensional graphic software. Weiss is the software architect who was the prime developer of the Kai's Power Tools and Kai's Power GOO computer graphics product lines.
MetaCreations, now known as Viewpoint Corp. VWPT.O , sold off Kai's Power Tools to Corel Corp. COR.TO and Kai's Super GOO to ScanSoft Inc. SSFT.O nearly three years ago.
Shell and Slate is represented by Gary Hecker of The Hecker Law Group, a Los Angeles-based intellectual property firm specializing in high technology and entertainment litigation, and Stephen W. Tropp, of Orlando, Florida.
Hecker has represented clients including Oracle, Sun Microsystems, Apple Computer, Pixar, Macromedia and Netscape.
Shares of Adobe closed up $1.01 or 3.69 percent to $28.40 in trading on the Nasdaq market on Wednesday.
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