The court cases settled by GE Medical Systems and three independent service organizations last month all involved GE's assertion of copyright protection for its advanced scanner service software. They were not, however, carbon copy agreements, as characterized by SCAN (3/13/91).
GE's litigation with R Squared Scan Systems was a more protracted case involving a more complex set of claims on both sides. In the settlement, R Squared conceded that GE has copyright protection on advanced service software, in return for access to operating and basic software (SCAN 3/27/91).
The other two settlements actually involved one suit filed by GE against Mediq Engineering and Maintenance Services of Dallas and a start-up ISO, CTR International of Oconomowoc, WI. GE filed charges against the two ISOs last October in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, according to a copy of the GE/CTR settlement supplied to SCAN by CTR.
In Mediq's case, the two firms agreed that Mediq was using its own advanced software rather than GE's, said Douglas Stoner, patent counsel for GE.
CTR, on the other hand, claimed it does not use the GE advanced software for 9800 computed tomography scanners and can perform its service work using GE's basic software. CTR agreed not to use or copy GE advanced service software in the future and to report the presence of this software to GE if it is found on magnetic tape at a CTR service site.
After reporting the presence of the advanced service software, CTR can use nonadvanced software on the tape until GE provides it with a functional basic service software tape, according to the settlement agreement.
CTR was formed by four former GE employees last July, said president Paul Monet.
While Mediq and R Squared will use their own advanced service software, access to software is not the only indicator of service competence, according to Paul Thomas, R Squared senior vice president.
"We (R Squared) have grown from a company with one (CT) scanner under service in 1981 to handling nearly 400 scanners and about 700 x-ray (service) contracts," Thomas said. "You do not grow just based upon the software available to you. It is a company's whole attitude that counts. If you put the right tool in the hands of the wrong guy, the tool doesn't matter."
Charges against GE were dismissed in a related case involving CT Repair Services, a now-defunct Los Angeles ISO, Stoner said. The decision was handed down in California Appellate Court.
A Los Angeles Superior Court jury had originally decided against GE in the case and awarded CTRS $2 million in damages (SCAN 1/17/90). The trial judge threw out that verdict and ordered a new trial, Stoner said. Counsel for CTRS did not respond to inquiries from SCAN.
