FREELAND – The matchup looked laughably unfair from the start: a young biometric firm with a few employees versus the world’s largest software company.
James Childers, founder of Freeland’s Artemis Solutions Group, admits his friends and colleagues questioned the sanity of suing Microsoft Corp.
| Headquarters: Freeland
Owners: James and Tarisa Childers Number of employees: Five, plus part-time independent contractors Founded: 2001 Web site: www.artemis-usa.com |
“I’ve gotten phone calls from my contemporaries in the field and from people I’ve worked with in the past who said, ‘What the hell are you doing?’ ” Childers said.
But Microsoft met its match in Artemis, which sells things such as smart cards and biometric security devices activated by a user’s fingerprint. The two companies are now in settlement negotiations over Microsoft’s alleged trademark violation.
This spring, Microsoft Corp. began promoting a licensing program that allowed others to buy rights to the software company’s patented technologies. One of those licensed technologies, dealing with biometric identification, was offered under the name BioCert.
That’s the exact name – down to the capitalized C in the middle – of Artemis’ trademarked brand.
The Whidbey Island firm has used the name continuously for its biometric products since early 2002, according to its registration with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The name also has been registered with the state for years.
“In fact, you can type it into MSN’s search engine,” said Childers, referring to Microsoft’s well-known Web site and trying to stifle a chuckle, “and it comes up as the first or second hit.”
Not nearly as universally known as Microsoft, Artemis is nonetheless growing by 50 percent annually, Childers said.
“We have some of the coolest technology available,” he said.
Biometrics refers to technologies that confirm people’s identities by comparing physical or behavioral characteristics against computer records of those traits. These can include patterns of a person’s face, fingerprint, voice or iris of the eye, according to the International Biometric Industry Association.
Artemis, for example, sells door locks, safes and gun storage boxes that can be programmed to open only when they scan specific people’s fingerprints. The company also carries computer mice, keyboards and software that require biometric identification to limit access to data.
Childers had previous experience in the industry when he was named the West Coast sales manager for NEC’s biometric division in late 2000. But less than two months later, NEC decided to shut down the division, leaving Childers with the choice to continue in the business himself or find a new job soon after moving to Whidbey Island.
He stayed and started Artemis with his wife, Tarisa. Now the business sells products worldwide via 70 different Web sites its operates.
Helped by rapid improvements in biometric technology and growing interest in both corporate and personal security, Artemis’ sales reached about $1.5 million last year, Childers said.
He added he’s happy to be focusing again on his expanding line of products now that his case with Microsoft is being resolved.
Within days after Artemis’ lawsuit against Microsoft was filed in U.S. District Court in Texas last month, the software company changed the name of its BioCert program to Microsoft Biometric ID. It even retroactively erased all references to the BioCert name on its Web sites.
Microsoft said in an e-mailed statement last week that is “in discussions with representatives of Artemis Solutions Group and (is) optimistic that this matter can be amicably resolved to the mutual satisfaction of both parties.”
The negotiated ending erases Childers’ chances of a Hollywoodlike courtroom victory in his crusade against the Goliath from Redmond. But he expects to benefit from the settlement being negotiated.
“And I’m glad we have our name back,” he said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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