AutoForm and Engineering Technology Associates settle die design software patent disputes

AutoForm Eng. GmbH, Wilen b. Wollerau, Switzerland, and Engineering Technology Associates Inc., Troy, Mich., have reached a global settlement of their patent disputes and entered a consent judgment, ending a U.S. patent infringement lawsuit initiated by AutoForm against ETA.

The respective patents are directed to the addendum design of deep-drawing tools and protect methods used by AutoForm-DieDesigner software. ETA has agreed to discontinue sale and distribution of its Die Face Engineering (DFE) plug-in for addendum surface generation. AutoForm agreed not to sue any ETA customers, distributors, or end users that hold existing licenses for the DFE plug-in.