MADISON, WI — CAST Group of Companies Inc, the developers of the WYSIWYG lighting design software, have filed a civil action against Electronic Theatre Controls for alleged copyright infringement, breach of contract and misrepresentation related to the distribution agreement between the two parties dating back to the year 2000. Case number 08-CV-753, filed Dec. 29, 2008 in the United States Federal District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin, alleges that "ETC has breached its obligations under its agreements with CAST, made extensive unauthorized use and distribution of WYSIWYG software, and seriously damaged the integrity of CAST's software security system…"
In January 2000, CAST entered into an agreement with ETC for the exclusive global distribution of CAST's WYSIWYG software. Under the terms of the agreement, ETC was authorized to distribute WYSIWYG as a free-standing boxed product and as OEM product in the Emphasis console range.
ETC was given access to the CAST Dongle Utility (CDU), which generated software activations, upgrades and membership renewal codes that would allow the dongles to run the software. The civil action is based in part on the alleged abuse and continued use without authorization of the CDU and the misrepresentation of the number of end users given access to the software.
The latest release of WYSIWYG, R23, incorporates a new security system. All owners of existing dongles that fail to meet the new technical specs will be issued a new replacement dongle free of charge when they purchase an upgrade or renew their memberships.
