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U.S. PTO smashes JPEG patent
May 26, 2006

Another attempt to tie down a standard with a patent has gone down in flames. The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has rejected a patent that Forgent Networks was asserting against the Joint Photographic Experts Group, better known as JPEG, images standard.

In the reexamination proceeding initiated late last year by the PUBPAT (Public Patent Foundation), The PTO Office Action released yesterday a finding that the prior art submitted by PUBPAT completely anticipated the broadest claims of the patent, U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672 (the '672 Patent).

"The Patent Office has agreed with our conclusion that it would have never granted Forgent Networks' '672 patent had it been aware of the prior art that we uncovered and submitted to them," said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director.

"Making matters worse here is that this new prior art was known by those who filed the application that led to the '672 patent, but none of them told the Patent Office about it, despite their duty to do so," continued Ravicher.

As Pamela Jones of Groklaw noted, "That is a very big 'NO' in patent law."

Forgent Networks, however, sees it in an entirely different light.

In a press release, the company declares that the action upholds 27 of the 46 claims of Forgent's patent. Forgent will vigorously defend the remaining claims that were not initially upheld in this first office action.

"We understand this is an extended process and we are pleased with the progress of the patent reexamination," said Richard Snyder, Forgent Networks' CEO in a statement. "We believe the remaining claims are also valid, and we will work directly with the Patent and Trademark Office to clarify and defend our position."

The company acquired the '672 Patent through the purchase of Compression Labs, Inc. in 1997 and began aggressively asserting it against the JPEG standard through lawsuits and the media in 2004.

Forgent is currently suing approximately 30 companies about the '672 patent. These include camera companies like Afga, Canon, and Concord Cameras; PC vendors such as Dell and HP; and software ISVs ranging from Microsoft to Sun.

While Forgent is also a scheduling software company, its revenue increasingly depends on its aggressive pursuit of its IP (intellectual property) holdings. In the three years since it began this course, Forgent's IP program has generated more than $105 million in revenues primarily from licensing the '672 Patent.

Forgent will try to re-establish its patent claims. Still, PUBPAT states that third party requests for reexamination, like this one, result in having the subject patent either modified or completely revoked roughly 70% of the time.


-- Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols


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