Microsoft Beware Of The Mouse That Roared
The Age
Thursday December 17, 1998
A Melbourne businessman, Mr Mark Goldstein, is suing Microsoft for more than $US1 billion, claiming the world's biggest software company stole his design for an ergonomically better computer mouse.
Mr Goldstein and his wife, Liz, are the principals of Goldtouch Technologies, a small company based in Melbourne and Austin, Texas, where it makes ergonomic computer keyboards and the mouse now at the centre of the legal dispute.
He said from his lawyers' offices in Irvine, California, yesterday that he was confident he would win.
``The mouse they are marketing looks like ours. The shape is the same, and it is the shape that is the crucial thing. We have it patented," Mr Goldstein said.
The case will be heard by the US District Court in Marshall, Texas, and is expected to be decided within 12 months. The claim alleges infringement of patents, theft of trade secrets and fraud and, as well as the $US1 billion in punitive damages, seeks an unspecified amount to be decided by the court in compensation for lost sales and royalties.
Mr Goldstein said he visited Microsoft in September, 1997, ``with the intention of licensing our technology to them or having some kind of joint venture" in manufacturing and marketing his ergonomic mouse.
``I spent a lot of time explaining to their people the ergonomic principles behind the design. They told me they thought it was pretty good, but said they weren't interested in going further. About a year later they brought out their IntelliMouse Pro, which is identical to ours," he said.
``We have two patents on the design - one a utility patent and the other a design patent - registered in the US and pending worldwide.
``At that meeting with Microsoft I spoke with their head of hardware and head of industrial design. They grilled me for two hours about the science behind the design," he said.
Mr Goldstein, who is Australia's delegate to the International Standards Organisation for computer user interfaces, is a recognised world authority on ergonomic design in computer hardware. The ergonomic keyboard he designed and is now making in Texas is marketed by both Lexmark and IBM.
During his meeting with Microsoft, he said, he discussed not only the principles behind his design, but future developments he had in mind.
The claim was filed on 15 December, and Microsoft so far has not responded.
The Goldtouch design is larger and deeper than conventional devices with a shape Mr Goldstein says was carefully calculated to reduce the risk of repetitive strain injury.
Microsoft has had its IntellimousePro on the worldwide market for about two months.
The lawsuit filed with the court says Microsoft knew at the September meeting that Goldtouch had a patent pending on its mouse design.
The petition says that ``in the year following the meeting ... Microsoft copied important features of the Goldtouch sample mouse examined (at the meeting), implemented additional advanced features discussed at the meeting, and began to manufacture its knock-off product.
``Microsoft misappropriated Goldtouch's trade secrets to enhance its own inadequate designs."
The petition claims Goldtouch had lost significant sales and would lose many more because the Microsoft brand dominated the market.
© 1998 The Age