Surfware decided to sue Celeritive over patent #7,451,013 involving engagement milling, which "allows 50% faster machining of titanium and other exotic materials by controlling engagement and tool load with a constant feed rate to significantly increase tool life."
Celeritive first countersued, and then blinked, and the two settled before going to court. Surfware agreed to license Celeritive some -- but not all -- of its technology. Here is how the two announced the agreement:
Surfware: Announcement: Surfware vs. Celeritive Lawsuit is Settled
Celeritive: Surfware, Inc. and Celeritive Technologies have settled the claims and
counterclaims made against each other
Celeritive first countersued, and then blinked, and the two settled before going to court. Surfware agreed to license Celeritive some -- but not all -- of its technology. Here is how the two announced the agreement:
Surfware: Announcement: Surfware vs. Celeritive Lawsuit is Settled
Celeritive: Surfware, Inc. and Celeritive Technologies have settled the claims and
counterclaims made against each other
Surfware has spent years almost entirely focused on better toolpaths. Unfortunately better toolpaths, while very important, don't make up an entire CADCAM system. It's time for Surfware to port to or license decent CAD as Surfcam's CAD is very badly outdated. In fact, Surfcam doesn't even have a lousy solid modeler thrown on top of their old wireframe like Mastercam does.
Personally I'd love it if Surfware found a direct modeler to work with and licensed the CAD source code from someone like SpaceClaim. Now that would be a kick donkey CADCAM system!
Posted by: Jon Banquer | Aug 31, 2009 at 12:52 PM
John:
That's a very insightful comment. Cuts to the chase, and provides constructive feedback.
If Surfware comes to COFES next year, I'd love to introduce them to a few people who might be able to partner with them to make that "kick donkey" CAD/CAM system.
Posted by: Evan Yares | Sep 02, 2009 at 07:53 PM