A Canadian software company is alleging that AOL illegally
distributed its calendaring technology through its Netscape
subsidiary between January 2000 and May 2001.
"We have strong evidence that there were hundreds of thousands of
downloads [during those] 17 months," said Patrick Bertrand, chief
executive of Steltor, which makes time management software.
According to Steltor, the company entered into a software licence
agreement with Netscape in August 1996. Under that agreement,
Steltor (then called CS&T) allowed Netscape, "to use,
distribute, market and promote Steltor's CorporateTime technology."
CorporateTime was incorporated into Netscape's CommunicatorPro and
SuiteSpot product lines under the brand name Netscape Calendar. The
agreement ended on 31 December 1999.
"We mutually agreed to terminate the agreement," Bertrand said, "At
the time, AOL had just purchased Netscape. They changed their mind
and their corporate strategy."