Softel, Inc. v. Dragon Medical & Scientific Communications Ltd.

891 F. Supp. 935, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9476, 1995 WL 407396
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 7, 1995
DocketNo. 87 Civ. 0167 (MGC)
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 891 F. Supp. 935 (Softel, Inc. v. Dragon Medical & Scientific Communications Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Softel, Inc. v. Dragon Medical & Scientific Communications Ltd., 891 F. Supp. 935, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9476, 1995 WL 407396 (S.D.N.Y. 1995).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CEDARBAUM, District Judge.

Softel, Inc. (“Softel”), a company that develops and sells computer graphics products, sues Dragon Medical and Scientific Communications, Inc. (“Dragon”) and some of Dragon’s employees for copyright and trademark infringement, misuse of trade secrets and unfair competition.1 From April 28, 1991 to May 13, 1991, Judge Camella held a bench trial limited to liability issues, in which he found defendants Dragon and John Darsee2 hable for copyright infringement and misuse of trade secrets, and found that the misuse of trade secrets was willful and in bad faith, entitling plaintiff to punitive damages. See Softel, Inc. v. Dragon Medical & Scientific Communications, Inc., No. 87 Civ. 0167 (JMC), 1992 WL 168190 (S.D.N.Y. June 29, 1992) [hereinafter “Softel I ”]. Familiarity is assumed with Judge Cannella’s decision which is the law of this case.

From May 8, 1995 to May 11, 1995, I held a bench trial to determine the amount of damages for which defendants are hable. After examining the documents, observing [938]*938the demeanor of the witnesses, and considering the plausibility and credibility of their testimony, I make the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Findings of Fact

The Parties

1. Plaintiff Softel is a New Hampshire corporation engaged in the business of developing and selling computer graphics products to users of IBM compatible computers. Paul Fiondella is the president and sole shareholder of Softel. (Softel I, Findings of Fact (“F.F.”) ¶1.)

2. Defendant Dragon was a New Jersey corporation engaged in the business of designing interactive computer programs to present medical and scientific information until it ceased doing business on January 31, 1992. {See Softel I, F.F. ¶ 2; Tr. at 380.)

3. Defendant John R. Darsee was a medical writer for Dragon and the director of its interactive department. (Softel /, F.F. ¶ 6.)

Background Facts Regarding Liability

4. In November 1984, Darsee purchased Videogram 2.0, a “paint-and-draw” computer graphics program, from Softel. {Softel I, F.F. ¶¶ 15, 17, 21.) Videogram 2.0 did not enable the user to incorporate images drawn with it into software the user was writing. {Softel I, F.F. ¶ 17.)

5. In January 1985 through June 1985, Dragon hired Fiondella to write code that would display graphics images created in Videogram 2.0 in several of Dragon’s interactive programs (the “image retrieval routines”). (,Softel I, F.F. ¶¶ 26-66, 75.)

6. Fiondella never gave Dragon the source code he had written. Rather he gave Dragon only the “executable” object code. {Softel I, F.F. ¶¶ 28, 44, 51, 60, 75.)

7. Darsee somehow gained access to Sof-tel’s source code and used the code to retrieve and display graphics images in two Dragon interactive programs, Hairy Cell Roche and Low Back Pain. {Softel I, F.F. ¶¶ 62, 65, 70.)

8. On May 22, 1986, plaintiff sought to register a copyright for certain computer code (the “Copyright Collection”). Plaintiff sought to register the following: (1) a program entitled “SHOWPIX.bas,” which includes code similar to that of certain image retrieval routines; (2) a collection of object code routines called “8068/8 Support Routines,” which includes the five assembly code routines used to retrieve and display Video-gram images; and (3) source code for one of the projects plaintiff did for Dragon. Plaintiff was granted a Certificate of Copyright, Registration No. TXu 236 931, for the Copyright Collection, effective May 22, 1986. {Softel I, F.F. ¶ 77; Plaintiffs Liability Trial Exhibit (“PLX”) 34.)

9. In 1988, Dragon utilized a different paint-and-draw program (called “Dr. Halo”) instead of plaintiffs Videogram software in producing several interactive programs. {Softel I, F.F. ¶¶ 101-103.) Because the images used in those programs were stored in a different format for use with a different type of graphics card, those programs did not use the image retrieval routines. {Softel I, F.F. ¶ 103.) The programs Dragon produced in 1988 were not in any way derived from Sof-tel’s copyrighted work. {Softel I, F.F. ¶ 115.)

Plaintiffs Lost Profits Due to Defendants’ Use of Image Retrieval Routines

10. Defendants presented evidence that plaintiff charged a license fee of $2,000 for the use of the image retrieval routines in another program and that plaintiff offered Dragon a contract, which Dragon refused, pursuant to which Dragon would have paid plaintiff $3,500 per computer program to license code previously developed by plaintiff. (Tr. at 292-99; PLX 63, 66.)

11. Evidence was also presented that Dragon paid license fees on two occasions to Media Cybernetics for the use of code similar to that of the image retrieval routines in connection with images created in the Dr. Halo paint-and-draw program. (Tr. at 598-606.) In 1987, Dragon paid Media Cybernetics $10,000 for a license to use code that retrieved graphics images in ten Dragon software packages. (Plaintiff’s Damage Trial Exhibit (“PDX”) D-18.) In 1989, Dragon paid Media Cybernetics $8,200 for a license to use such code in an unlimited number of programs. (Tr. at 598.)

[939]*93912. Evidence was presented at trial that a license for the use of source code may be substantially more expensive than a license for the use of the executable code. For example, plaintiffs expert testified that he obtained a license to use the source code of the UNIX operating system for $43,000, but an executable copy of the software was available for $600. (Tr. at 60.) This license did not allow the user to incorporate the UNIX software into its own products. (Tr. at 61.) No evidence was presented as to how much a source code license would cost for a program that performed functions similar to those of the image retrieval routines.

13. Based on the evidence presented at trial, I find that plaintiffs lost profits are $7,000, that is, the amount plaintiff would have charged defendants under its proposed agreement for the use of the image retrieval routines in two programs. Although a source code license fee might have been considerably higher, I find that it is unlikely that Dragon would have paid such a high fee considering the availability of other programs which performed the same functions as the Videogram image retrieval routines. (See Defendants’ Damage Trial Exhibits (“DDX”) AT & AU; Tr. at 587-615.) Dragon used plaintiffs source code only to produce the Hairy Cell and Low Back Pain programs. It did not use the source code for any other purpose. Essentially, the value to Dragon of the use of plaintiffs code was the saving of the license fee it would have paid to plaintiff for the use of the image retrieval routines.

Dragon’s Profits from Programs Utilizing Infringing/Misappropriated Code

14. Dragon’s gross revenue from the Hairy Cell Roche program was $92,500. (DDX A; PDX D-2.) Dragon’s gross revenue from the Low Back Pain program was $85,415.32. (DDX B; PDX D-2.)

15. Dragon incurred direct costs of $39,-108.96 for the production of the Hairy Cell Roche program and $32,630.36 for the production of the Low Back Pain program. (DDX A & B.)3

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Bluebook (online)
891 F. Supp. 935, 1995 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9476, 1995 WL 407396, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/softel-inc-v-dragon-medical-scientific-communications-ltd-nysd-1995.