Legal Issues
On 14 November 2006, Autodesk banned the Open Design Alliance confirming that its DWGdirect libraries misuse the Autodesk’s trademark by writing the TrustedDWG watermark (plus the word “AutoCAD”) into DWG documents it creates. After nine days, Autodesk’s attorneys issued a brief warning order against the Open Design Alliance. In May 2007, the issue was settled, basically on Autodesk’s terms. Free DWG ViewerIn 2006, Autodesk registered for US trademarks on “DWG”, DWGX”,”DWG TRUEVIEW”, “DWG TRUECONVERT”,” and “DWG EXTREME”. In April, 2010, Autodesk along with the Open Design Alliance established their issues, with the Open Design Alliance approving to terminate its DWG-based trademark registrations and end use of DWG and DWG-based trademarks in its product branding and marketing.