JPEGs are not free: Patent holder pursues IP grab

And Sony's already coughed up

By Andrew Orlowski in London • Get more from this author

Posted in Software, 18th July 2002 17:12 GMT

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A video conferencing company based in Austin, Texas says it's going to pursue royalties on the transmission of JPEG images.

And it's already found a licensee: Sony Corporation.

Formerly known as VTEL, Forgent Networks acquired Compression Labs in 1997, acquiring this patent into the bargain. The patent claim was filed in 1986 but Compression Labs never pursued royalties.

Forgent last week declared that it has "the sole and exclusive right to use and license all the claims" under the patent and is seeking a deal wherever JPEGs are transmitted, with the exception of satellite broadcasting.

It specifies browsers, PDAs, digital cameras, phones and scanners in its 'clarification'. So the IP claim extends to any client device which receives a JPEG image.

Forgent's most recent SEC filing states that another company - not Sony Corporation - has paid the company $15 million for licensing Patent 4,698,672: a significant portion of the $22 million Forgent booked as revenue in the quarter.

In its the filing, Forgent adds:

"The Company is pursuing additional license agreements
with other companies from multiple industries; however, there can be no assurance that additional licenses can be obtained or, if obtained will be on
similar favorable terms."

Forgent had yet to respond to our enquiries at time of writing. ®

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