No More JPEGs
from the withdrawing-the-standard dept
I haven't been posting all the stories about the silly Texas company that is suddenly trying to force companies to license a patent they say covers technology in JPEG images. I guess I was hoping that such stupidity would be quickly realized and ignored. However, it seems the company is sticking to their ridiculous guns. In response, ISO is saying that if Forgent doesn't back down, they'll withdraw JPEG as a standard for images. The Register spoke with someone at Forgent who toes the company line, while clearly not understanding most of the questions being asked of her. The patent itself expires in 2004, so it seems silly for anyone to bother paying a license for it now. It's also questionable as to whether or not the patent is even remotely close to valid. It's really too bad that companies feel the need to do things like this. It's a waste of time and money for everyone.
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Re: No Subject Given
Why spend money and time developping a product or service you can sell when you can just sue and make millions? EVEN IF your suit is not valid, you KNOW that with the state of the courts today..and of course greedy lawyers...a LOT of small companies will pony up the dough rather than spend it in court...a $50000 license is cheaper than spending 2 million in court no? (I'm pulling those numbers out of my butt tho...I don't know how much a license would cost)
The unfortunate thing is that they can and DO get away with this kind of legal blackmail and it sets a precedent.
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