Apple, others still fighting JPEG patent

Apple Computer along with approximately 40 other companies are still in hot water over a patent infringement case that progressed further yesterday, reconfirming a Markman hearing on claim construction for February 13th next year. Judge Jeremy D. Fogel passed the ruling along in favor of Forgent Networks and its wholly owned subsidiary, Compression Labs, holders of U.S. patent number 4,698,672, or the "'672 patent", which covers technologies used in JPEG image compression. The case names such IT giants as Microsoft, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, Sun Microsystems, Toshiba, and many others. Forgent's intellectual property program has generated more than $100 million in revenues primarily from licensing the '672 patent to more than 40 different companies in Asia, Europe and the United States.

Filed under: Apple

, 2

2 comments

Reader Reactions (Please use <i></i> for italic text)

subscribe to comments
for this article

Expand All

Global Settings

denim

PNG lives

10/05, 3:09pm, EDT

And the GIF patent has expired.

Mac Elite

Joined Jun 2000

User is offline

bhuot

Patent system

10/05, 5:35pm, EDT

Maybe I will patent paint or some other vague patent on something that obviously existed long before I got the patent and then not claim I have a patent for 20 years, and then when everyone is using my patent I will claim that the all users owe me royalties. Maybe a little money under the table or clueless judges and patent officials helped grease the wheels. Most people who apply for patents no matter how obsurd get them and they only benefit large corporations, not the little people.

Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined Nov 2003

User is offline

Your Comments