Xspect Responds to Hexagon Lawsuit Press Release

In response to what it claims was a misleading press release issued by Hexagon Metrology last week regarding an intellectual property suit, Xspect Solutions Inc. has added clarification and detail to some of the language used in Hexagon's release.  A subsidiary of Wenzel Prazision, GmbH, Xspect Solutions, says that it "has agreed to certain terms following unproven accusations cited in the original lawsuit filing."

According to Xspect president, Keith Mills, the original law suit arose when a PC-DMIS software engineer employed by PC-DMIS developer Wilcox & Associates, failed to inform Mills of a non-compete employment clause while seeking employment with Xspect Solutions. Mills says he withdrew the employment offer once he learned of the non-compete clause but Hexagon still filed a lawsuit against both the former employee and Xspect Solutions. No wrongdoing by Xspect was shown, and the suit was settled out of court, says Mills.

Under the terms of the settlement Xspect Solutions Inc. has agreed to the following, according to Xspect. You can compare this version of the settlement to Hexagon's earlier press release here:

1) Not to solicit the employment of Hexagon technical personal; all other Hexagon employees are free to be engaged in lawful employment by Xspect and Wenzel Group Companies. This limited restriction, in any event, is only in force until February 2011.

2) Refrain f rom developing any PC-DMIS translation utility and developing, marketing, or selling any PC-DMIS execution utility until February 2010. Xspect Solutions and Wenzel Group Companies are permitted to continue their successful marketing and sales efforts of a third-party developed PC-DMIS translation software. Such products allow existing PC-DMIS customers to migrate their existing inspection part programs into the ISO standard DMIS format thereby unlocking the programs to be executed in the Xspect Solutions OpenDMIS software or any other metrology software fully supporting the DMIS International Standard CMM programming language, thus allowing full and seamless interoperability. DMIS is both vendor and technology independent. Read more about DMIS at www.dmis.org

3) Xspect Solutions is free to release any new versions of software with an embedded PC-DMIS translation and/or PC-DMIS execution utility. However if the release occurs prior to July 2011 it agrees to provide a one month advance notice of the release to Wilcox and submit user manuals, comprehensive documentation, and a temporary demonstration license to Wilcox for evaluation.

4) Xspect Solutions has warranted that it does not have, nor did it ever have any confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information belonging to Hexagon or its Group Companies.   Nonetheless, Xspect Solutions further agreed to refrain from ever developing any product or providing any services involving the use of Wilcox’s, Hexagon Metrology Inc.’s, or Hexagon Holdings Inc.’s confidential, proprietary, or trade secret information or property.

Under the terms of the settlement, Wenzel Group GmbH & Co. KG, Wenzel Prazision GmbH, and Wenzel Metromec AG have agreed to be enjoined, directly or indirectly.

The ex-employee of Wilcox & Associates, who was never hired by Xspect Solutions, says Mills, has agreed to be bound by a separate set of terms in the joint settlement agreement.

Xspect Solutions, founded in 2002, has gained a 10-percent market share for Wenzel Coordinate Measuring Machines (CMM) in the North American market, says Mills. He added that "Wenzel’s market share has been secured at the expense of the traditional CMM supply base." The recent lawsuit was as much as message "aimed at Hexagon employees" who might be tempted to share Hexagon's intellectual property with new employers, as it was at competitors, says Mills.

Send all Inquiries to:
Keith Mills
Xspect Solutions Inc.
47000 Liberty Drive
Wixom, Michigan  48393
Phone: (248) 295-4300   
Fax: (248) 295-4301
kmills@XspectSolutions.com
Web: www.wenzel-group.com/

About The Author

Dirk Dusharme

Dirk Dusharme is Quality Digest’s editor in chief.