The ubiquitous JPEG image format that so many of us are familiar with is currently endorsed by the ISO group. Like all technologies endorsed by ISO, they must be royalty-free. Interestingly enough, Forgent Networks holds a patent that applies to part of the JPEG algorithm and is now suing 31 companies over the use of this patent.
Forgent said it believes that a 17-year-old patent it acquired through the purchase of Compression Labs in 1997 can be applied to a specific algorithm in the format. Defendants in the lawsuit include some of the biggest names in the computing industry, from Apple and IBM to Kodak and Xerox -- all of which use JPEG in their products. Forgent contacted each of the companies over the past year and offered them the chance to license the technology, said Forgent spokesman Michael Noonan. But none accepted, he said.
As terrible as all of this sounds, there are a few good things that may prevent all of this nastiness from happening. First, the patent is 17+ years old and is set to expire around October 2006. While that may seem like a long time to wait, many will recall that Unisys/Compuserve pulled a similar stunt in the mid-90's with the licensing of the LZW algorithm for the GIF format (whose patent recently expired in June 2003.)
Second, Forgent did not start pursuing defense of this patent until 5 years after acquisition. The Doctrine of Laches, a sort of "statute of limitations" for Intellectual Property, requires that the patent holder not be negligent in the defense of said patent. If any of these cases go to court, the court may very well throw out each case on these grounds. And if the court does not, maybe that's a good thing. Many people would argue that the PNG format gained backing due to the row over the GIF patent licensing issue. Perhaps this JPEG debacle will fuel support for an even better image format.