According to Markzware President Patrick Marchese, US Patent No. 5,963,641 was granted to his company for a “Device and method for examining, verifying, correcting, and approving electronic documents prior to printing, transmission or recording.” The complaint seeks monetary and injunctive relief from the defendants. Markzware preflight products for digital documents include FlightCheck Professional, FlightCheck Designer, FlightCheck Studio, FlightCheck Workflow, and FlightCheck Online.
“The preflighting described in the patent and owned by Markzware has been used without our consent,” says Marchese. “Accordingly, we plan to protect and defend our patent, which is fundamental to our flagship product line, FlightCheck.”
Artwork Systems, in a statement issued May 22, said it is investigating Markzware’s claims. “The lawsuit, which focuses on two Enfocus software products — PitStop Professional and PitStop Server — comes as a surprise to Enfocus, whose leading PDF preflighting products have been on the US market for many years,” says Peter Denoo, CEO of Artwork Systems Group. “Artwork Systems and Enfocus respect the intellectual property rights of third parties, and are currently conducting a full investigation into what appear to be unsupportable allegations made by Markzware. We do not expect this lawsuit to interfere in any way with Enfocus’ ability to continue offering and supporting its popular PDF preflighting products, now or in the future.”