Although best known only as an image format, JPEG is actually
short for the "Joint Photographic Experts Group". The experts in
the Group are nominated by national standards bodies and major
companies to work to produce standards for continuous tone image
coding.
The best-known standard from JPEG is IS 10918-1, which is the
first of a set of standards for still image compression. A basic
version of the many features of this standard is what most people
think of as JPEG – and this is where a monopoly right is
claimed.
Compression Labs applied for the patent in 1986. The company did
not initially pursue royalties. But in 1996, part of its business
was acquired by General Instruments Corp., which itself was later
acquired by Motorola. The remainder of Compression Labs was sold in
1997 to a company called VTEL which, in 2001, changed its name to
Forgent Networks. Forgent then startled the computer industry in
2002 when it announced that it would be seeking royalties relating
to digital image compression.
Over the last two years, the patent has been licensed to 30
different companies in Asia, Europe and the US, generating around
$90 million in fees, while in April, enforcement action was taken
against 31 computer companies, including IBM, Apple and
Gateway.
According to Bloomberg News, the industry has now hit back,
suing both Forgent and General Instrument Corp. over the actual
validity of the patent.
The suit alleges that Forgent and General Instrument Corp. are
"attempting unlawfully to subvert the JPEG standard and to extract
hundreds of millions of dollars in unwarranted profits", according
to Bloomberg.
The validity of the patent has been questioned before. In July
2002, a JPEG committee examined the patent and announced that it
believed prior art existed in areas in which the patent claims to
apply, i.e. the technology was in use before the patent
existed.
