Today's recommendation: For news and updates on Science/Technology, check out http://news.google.com/news/en/us/technology.html

Btw, Forgent Networks sued 31 major hardware/software vendor...you guess, for using of JPEG file format for images in their products. Those companies being sued includes Dell, Apple, IBM, Kodak, Adobe, Macromedia and Xerox. Quite honestly, I used to think that .jpeg (or .jpg, they're the same thing) are not copyrighted or anything, like .html or something. Could Forgent be taking the advantage to make money before the patent expires in October 2006? Btw, they insist that they still can sue for all the damages caused since the beginning of the time, even after in expires.

The bad news for end-users, if Forgent wins the lawsuit, there's a chance that prices for the software and tools (which involves JPEG file format) will increase.

It's not actually a new case. Many years ago, in the late 90's, Unisys and Compuserve began seeking for royalties on the use of LZW Compression. However, it all ends in 20th June 2003 when the U.S. patent on LZW compression ends.

JPEG: worth a 1000 words >>

posted by Francisca | 9:56 PM

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