The U.S. District Court in Southern Florida recently denied multichannel retail software firm Ecometry Corp.’s motion for temporary restraining order; order to show cause; and preliminary injunction against rival ProfitCenter Software. The flap between the two companies is over alleged copyright infringement.
Here is a statement from Matthew Ehrlich, CEO of ProfitCenter Software, Uniondale, NY:
” I have been asked several times over the last few weeks if it was true that Ecometry and PCS were involved in any legal action, and what the expected outcome might be. Under the advice of legal counsel, PCS did not comment on the case until we were pretty clear on how it was going to be resolved.
“The last few days have given us that expected clarity. On January 25, 2006, in the U.S. District Court in Southern Florida, Ecometry filed a copyright infringement lawsuit with an accompanying Motion for Temporary Restraining Order, Order to Show Cause and Preliminary Injunction. On June 20, 2006, United States Magistrate Hopkins issued a Report and Recommendation categorically denying Ecometry’s Motion for Temporary Restraining Order; Order to Show Cause; and Preliminary Injunction.
“Ecometry alleged that PCS engaged in copyright infringement by gaining unlawful access to Ecometry’s “MACS” software source code and by using Ecometry’s “MACS” source code to introduce competing software. However, based upon the evidence adduced at the evidentiary hearing and otherwise contained in the record, the Court concluded that Ecometry failed to factually prove, either directly or indirectly, that PCS copied any of Ecometry’s copyrighted material.
“As a result, the magistrate made his ruling and recommendation to the court, and its 100 percent in our favor. Ecometry’s request for an injunction was unsuccessful because the company could not prove any of its copyright infringement allegations. We will make the full ruling available to those who visit our office.
“I want to personally thank all of those who had faith in PCS over these last few months. Mere allegations and speculation of copyright infringement, without any factual support, will not survive judicial scrutiny.”
Ecometry responded with this statement from John Marrah, president/CEO of Ecometry, Delray Beach, FL:
“The only thing that’s been denied here is the injunction. We fully believe they [PCS] broke the law here. We firmly believe in the accuracy of our lawsuit in that they stole our intellectual property. We want to fight this in the courts, not in the press.”
Read the motion from the court by clicking on the PDF link: http://www.dmnews.com/cms/lib/6379.pdf
