[cracraft@cox.net: Forgent Sues/JPEG licensing]

[Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>]

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Date: Sat, 24 Apr 2004 17:46:05 -0700
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From: Stuart Cracraft <cracraft@cox.net>
Subject: Forgent Sues/JPEG licensing
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Forgent Sues Over JPEG Patent


By Amit Asaravala  |   Also by this reporter  Page 1 of 1

02:00 AM Apr. 24, 2004 PT

Forgent Networks said Friday it sued 31 major hardware and software 
vendors, including Dell and Apple Computers, for allegedly infringing on 
its claim to an algorithm used in the popular JPEG picture file format.

If the suits are successful, they could lead to an increase in prices for 
tools and software used to create and modify images -- or even lead the 
industry to abandon the JPEG format altogether.

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  Today's the Day. In use since the mid-1980s, the JPEG, or Joint 
Photographic Experts Group, format has become the de facto standard for 
sharing photo-quality images electronically. Although the most widely used 
version of the format is in the public domain, Forgent said it believes 
that a 17-year-old patent it acquired through the purchase of Compression 
Labs in 1997 can be applied to a specific algorithm in the format.

Defendants in the lawsuit include some of the biggest names in the 
computing industry, from Apple and IBM to Kodak and Xerox -- all of which 
use JPEG in their products. Forgent contacted each of the companies over 
the past year and offered them the chance to license the technology, said 
Forgent spokesman Michael Noonan. But none accepted, he said.

"These companies have been using our patent technology in a wide variety of 
products for some time, and despite the ongoing negotiations that we've had 
with these companies to license the technology, they haven't done so," said 
Noonan. "So we were forced to litigate."

Based in Austin, Texas, Forgent develops scheduling software and employs 
about 300 people. The company has generated about $90 million in fees on 
the patent from 30 licensees in Europe, Asia and the United States, said 
Forgent in a statement released Friday. An agreement with Sony accounted 
for $16 million of that amount, according to Noonan.

Forgent's critics say the new lawsuit is yet another example of how the 
practice of using patents to generate revenue is endangering the computing 
industry. It isn't the first time the company has been criticized for 
trying to enforce the compression patent. In 2002, when Forgent first 
announced that it would seek JPEG licensing fees, the public outcry led 
JPEG committee member Richard Clarke to speculate in an interview with The 
Register that the International Standards Organization would have to 
withdraw the format altogether.

Noonan said he was unconcerned that such an action would have any effect on 
use of the JPEG format. "JPEG is a very ubiquitous standard," he said. 
"It's in a lot of devices. I don't know if it would affect much."

Still, there is some good news for critics who would like to see the 
problem go away. According to Noonan, the patent runs out in October 2006.

Unfortunately for the defendants in Forgent's lawsuit, that may not matter 
if the patent is found to be valid.

"Remember, even if the patent expires, once we notify companies that they 
are infringing on patent, we can seek damages all the way back to the date 
when it was issued," Noonan said.

Representatives from Adobe and Macromedia, two of the companies named in 
the suit, were not immediately available to comment.

A patent for an algorithm underlying another image format generated similar 
controversy in the late 1990s when Unisys and Compuserve began seeking 
royalties on LZW compression, a key element in the GIF file format. The 
U.S. patent on LZW compression expired on June 20, 2003 -- now known as GIF 
Liberation Day in some circles.
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