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JPEG Patent Claimant Drops Suit Against Xerox
Apr 06,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.
Since filing suit against companies Forgent contends have infringed its patent, more than a dozen former defendants have entered into license agreements. 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.
Forgent settles with Xerox
Forgent Networks Inc. says it dismissed Xerox Corp. from legal action regarding Forgent’s JPEG-related patent.
Austin-based Forgent says the terms were “mutually agreeable” and confidential.
Forgent has litigation pending against about 30 companies for alleged infringement of the so-called ‘672 Patent. Following the filing of the litigation in federal court in Northern California, 14 companies that were defendants have signed license agreements with Forgent.
The ‘672 Patent relates to digital image compression for digital cameras, personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, printers, scanners and software.
Forgent develops and licenses intellectual property and provides scheduling software. The California litigation was filed on behalf of Forgent subsidiary Compression Labs Inc.Since its inception more than three years ago, Forgent’s intellectual property program has generated more than $105 million in revenue, primarily from licensing the ‘672 patent to more than 50 companies in the United States, Europe and Asia
Forgent gained the patent when it bought Compression Labs in 1997.
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