<http://images.slashdot.org/slc.gif> 31 Lawsuits Filed Over Alleged JPEG
Patent
<http://slashdot.org/search.pl?topic=155> Patents
Posted by CowboyNeal <http://cowboyneal.org/> on Friday April 23, @08:06AM
from the last-minute-legalities dept.
dcrouch <http://patentlaw.typepad.com/> writes "Compression Labs has
initiated a <http://www.macobserver.com/article/2004/04/22.14.shtml>
lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas against 31 major companies for
infringement of its 4,698,672
<http://v3.espacenet.com/textdoc?DB=EPODOC&IDX=US4698672> patent. The
patent, filed in 1986, includes 46 claims for various embodiments of digital
signal compression technology and reportedly covers JPEG compression. From
the dates on the face of the patent, it appears that it will expire in
October 2004. This looming date may have prompted the suit. Compression Labs
will certainly have a fight on its hands. A major question will be why the
patentee waited so long to stake its claim. The Eastern District of Texas
<http://www.txed.uscourts.gov/> court has established special patent rules
that help speed the progression of litigation."
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