[Gdal-dev] JPEG Patent and GDAL

[Simon Perkins]

On Wed, 2002-12-11 at 13:20, Frank Warmerdam wrote:
> A client of mine that incorporates GDAL in its software products has
> received a letter from lawyers representing a firm claiming to hold
> patents which use of the JPEG format infringes.  While I doubt that the
> claims have merit in law, my client is taking the prudent step of removing
> JPEG support from their products.   Others may wish to do the same.

It's GIF all over again... And a disaster for JPEG. 

Apparently the company concerned, Forgent, was until recently a
struggling videoconferencing company down in Texas. A year or two ago,
with busines doing badly, the CEO had the bright idea of trawling their
patent catalogue for material they could use to claim royalties from
other companies. They hit paydirt with a patent (which they'd bought a
few years earlier from another company) which appeared to duplicate some
JPEG technology, and their entire business is now devoted to trying to
screw money out of people for patent infrigement. 

It seems entirely evil to wait until a system becomes widely adopted as
a non-proprietary standard and then suddenly turn up with a piece of
paper laying claim to it. Unisys did it with GIF and no doubt made a few
bucks out of it at the same time as they killed the GIF standard. It's
possible JPEG will go the same way. Anyway, there's an article at:

http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-945735.html

And plenty more if you search the web for "jpeg patent".

Gloomily,

Sy