Thursday, July 18, 2002 |
10:57 - JPEG patent now being enforced
http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=forg&script=410&layout=-6&ite
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Oh, this we needed.
Forgent Networks, a company that manufactures polysyllabic words, has apparently just stumbled upon evidence that it owns the sole rights to the JPEG algorithm. They're now suing everybody they can get their hands on.
There's a Slashdot thread on this, which leads off with the statement that "This ambush of the digitial imaging industry will probably stand as the worst public relations nightmare a company can inflict upon itself." No kidding.
We all saw how well Unisys' attempt to do this with GIF went, didn't we? And besides, I was always under the impression that the "G" in JPEG stood for "Group"-- you know, as in open-standards-development-group. If one of the group members didn't disclose their patent to the other members (a "submarine patent", as I'm hearing it's called), they can be prosecuted.
Good frickin' luck, Forgent. Way to make yourself an instant pariah.
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