JPEG专利持有者撤销了对于施乐公司的控诉

JPEG专利持有者撤销了对于施乐公司的控诉

AMTeam.org消息：Forgent 网络公司不再紧盯施乐公司了，该公司凭借其JPEG数字图象压缩技术获得了1.05亿美元的强制补偿。

已经控诉了超过30家公司的专利侵权的Forgent周一宣布它撤销了对于施乐公司的控诉，基于相互达成的秘密条款，施乐没有立即发表评论。

Forgent拥有专利号为No. 4698672的专利，主要涉及数字图象压缩技术在数字图象设备如数码相机、PDA、手机、打印机、扫描仪以及压缩、存储、打印、传输等应用软件的使用。该公司过去四年超过90％的收入都来自此项专利的许可费用，而Forgent公司是1977年通过收购压缩技术实验室而获得这项专利。

批评者认为Forgent公司强制这些公司支付许可费用以避免高昂的诉讼费用，然而这项专利太广泛了，哪怕其它公司在压缩技术实验室之前或同时研发了这项技术。此外，他们表示Forgent公司就像凭借专利权钓鱼一样，在保护专利之前等待了数年；而该公司的首席执行官Dick Snyder的解释是它要花费数据的时间以寻找使用这项技术的公司。

JPEG Patent Holder Drops Suit Against Xerox

Xerox Corp. is no longer in the sights of Forgent Networks, the company that has earned some $105 million enforcing a patent it holds on JPEG digital image compression technology.

Forgent, which has sued more than 30 companies for infringing its patent, announced Monday that it has dismissed a lawsuit against document imaging company Xerox Corp. on mutually agreeable and confidential terms. Xerox wasn't available for an immediate comment.

Forgent holds a patent--No. 4,698,672--on digital image compression used in digital image devices such as digital cameras, PDAs, cellular telephones, printers, scanners, and certain software applications that compress, store, manipulate, print, or transmit digital images. More than 90% of the company's revenue in the past four years came from licensing fees based on the patent, which Forgent acquired when it purchased Compression Labs in 1977.

Critics maintain that Forgent coerced those companies 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. Forgent CEO Dick Snyder has responded by noting it takes years to identify companies that use the compression technology