[Upd-discuss] JPEG PATENT UNDER REVIEW

[Michael Hart]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to review a patent held
by Forgent Networks on the JPEG compression technique. An organization
called the Public Patent Foundation had petitioned the patent office to
review the patent. The Public Patent Foundation is a nonprofit
organization committed to minimizing what it sees as damage that
patents cause, and last year it reportedly persuaded Pfizer to narrow
its patent claims on Lipitor. The JPEG patent is extremely lucrative
for Forgent, especially since the explosion of digital cameras in the
past few years. The company has reportedly earned more than $100
million from the patent, which officials from Forgent said could be
worth $1 billion. CEO Richard Snyder said his company has thoroughly
investigated the patent and is confident it will be upheld. He said
there are no "convincing arguments of invalidity" and the company
"look[s] forward to an efficient reexamination." The Public Patent
Foundation said that when the patent office agrees to reconsider a
patent, it makes changes in 70 percent of cases, though that does not
always mean the patents are invalidated.
ZDNet, 2 February 2006
http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6034544.html