Monday, December 19, 2005
Forgent Licenses JPEG Patent to Yahoo
Posted by Suhit Gupta in "NEWS" @ 06:00 AM
"Scheduling software maker turned patent enforcer Forgent has announced an agreement with Yahoo in which the search engine will license the technology behind JPEG image compression. In exchange, Yahoo will be removed from litigation against companies Forgent claims are infringing on what it calls the '672 Patent. Forgent obtained the patent through its 1997 purchase of Compression Labs. After unsuccessfully trying to sell its JPEG patent to Compaq, Forgent has switched its strategy to litigation -- a tactic that has proven successful. Forgent has sued 47 companies thus far and raked in more than $105 million in licensing fees from 50 others."
I can't remember whether we have spoken of Forgent here at DMT or not (my horrible memory surfaces again) but they really annoy me. In April this year, Forgent and Microsoft countersued each other on the same issue. And Sun and Google have jumped on the same bandwagon. So I guess I am slightly upset with Yahoo for caving in and paying off a company like Forgent that is simply making money out of lawsuits and not making any new products. Does anyone else find this highly unethical? (i.e. on the part of Forgent).
I can't remember whether we have spoken of Forgent here at DMT or not (my horrible memory surfaces again) but they really annoy me. In April this year, Forgent and Microsoft countersued each other on the same issue. And Sun and Google have jumped on the same bandwagon. So I guess I am slightly upset with Yahoo for caving in and paying off a company like Forgent that is simply making money out of lawsuits and not making any new products. Does anyone else find this highly unethical? (i.e. on the part of Forgent).
