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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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