Hearing On JPEG Compression Patent Set
Posted by Sachin Garg on 5th March 2006 | Permanent Link
InformationWeek: A California federal district judge will hold a so-called Markman hearing March 9 in which evidence on the legal standings of claims in a patent on JPEG compression will be heard.
Defendants include Acer America, Agfa, Apple Computer, BancTec, Canon USA, Concord Camera, Creative Labs, Creo, Creo Americas, Dell, Eastman Kodak, Fuji Photo Film USA, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard, IBM, JVC Americas, Kyocera Wireless, Matsushita Electric of America, Microsoft, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, PalmOne, Panasonic Communications of America, Panasonic Mobile Communications Development of USA, Ricoh, Savin, Sun Microsystems, Thomson SA, TiVo Toshiba, Veo, and Xerox.
Critics contend those companies were browbeaten into paying licensing fees to avoid costly litigation, that the patent is too broad, and that others developed such compression technology either before or simultaneous with Compression Labs. Besides, they say Forgent acted like a patent troll, waiting years before aggressively enforcing the patent.
Nonsense, responds Forgent CEO Dick Snyder, saying it takes years to identify companies that use the compression technology.
We had featured another recent interview with Dick Snyder where he had made similar remarks.
After taking on the big names Snyder says Forgent is planning to go for another 1,100 companies it says uses its compression technology. The stakes are too high, result of this case will reflect on how bad is the crisis The U.S. Patent System is currently facing.