Hickey
TEXARKANA, Ark. (Legal Newsline) - In an effort to enforce a Chinese Court judgment over patent infringement, Texarkana attorneys John C. Goodson and Matt Keil have filed suit against Wal-Mart and Microsoft over their use of Chinese characters in computers.
On behalf of Beijing Zhongyi ZhongBiao Electronic Information Technology Co. Ltd., the Texarkana attorneys filed the lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. on July 10 in the Western District of Arkansas, Texarkana Division.
The plaintiff is the owner of copyrights related to TrueType fonts with the typefaces Song and Hei, consisting of tens of thousands of works used to depict Chinese characters in computers.
According to the lawsuit, the works were copied by the defendants and distributed in various Microsoft Windows operating systems and in related products.
In November 2009, Microsoft litigated and lost a copyright case in China. The Chinese court held that Beijing Zhongyi ZhongBiao Electronic Information Technology's fonts were protected by copyright and that Microsoft had used and is using the fonts in various operating systems without a license to do so.
The court ordered Microsoft to immediately stop manufacturing and selling any operating system that infringed on the plaintiff's fonts.
The Texarkana attorneys argue that Microsoft has refused to comply with the Chinese court's injunction and continue to infringe on the copyrights. Wal-Mart is accused of selling computers and operating systems that use the copyright infringing fronts.
The plaintiff is asking the court to issue a permanent injunction to prevent further copyright violations, to impound and destroy all infringing articles, and for an award of damages, interest, gains, profits, and advantages as a result of the infringement, plus treble damages and attorney's fees.
Plaintiff attorneys also include James M. Pratt Jr. of Camden, Arkansas, Randy J. McClanahan, Michael D. Myers, and Robert H. Espey II of McClanahan Myers Espey LLP in Houston, and Michael Angelovich of Nix Patterson & Roach in Austin.
U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey will preside over the case. A jury trial is requested.
Attorneys Goodson and Keil have been involved in class action litigation in Arkansas for years. They are currently pursuing a case against insurance companies over computer software "Colossus" - a lawsuit that mirrors a 2005 case that settled in Miller County, Ark. and provided the attorneys with $185 million in fees.
The Colossus case is currently before Hickey, who is considering a plaintiffs' motion to remand the case to Miller County. The defendant insurance companies are fighting to keep the case in federal court.
Case No. 4:12-cv-04077