The Patents County Court also dismissed infringement actions
brought by the patent holder, E-Data Corporation, against image
licensing firms Getty Images and Corbis Corporation.
E-Data had sued the two firms in February last year, alleging
that they enabled the sale and download of stock photos and images
over the internet, in breach of the Freeny patent.
The patent – officially called "System for Reproducing
Information in Material Objects at a Point of Sale Location" – was
filed in 1985 by inventor Charles Freeny. It describes a system and
method of distributing content over electronic and wireless
networks.
However, Assistant Recorder Richard Arnold
QC
ruled
on Wednesday that the patent did not apply to either Getty or
Corbis’s processes for the on-line retail of digital images.
The court also found that the patent itself was invalid because
it was anticipated by, or made obvious by an earlier
US
patent relating to “A self service terminal for
dispensing voice and video information, printed documents and
goods; and for accepting service orders and payments therefore by
currency or credit card.”
Getty spokeswoman Deb Trevino told Internetnews.com:
"It's a validation of our entire business
model – and even more broadly the industry in which we're
operating. This dismissal recognises the fact that the business
we're in of delivering imagery electronically through the internet
has nothing to do with a patent developed in the 1980s, before any
of this even existed."
The ruling follows a
US
appeal court decision in
November 2000 which found that the Freeny patent did not cover
sales of digital products downloaded only to
PC
hard
drives. However, where digital products have been downloaded,
streamed or copied to
CD
, paper or other storage
media, the ruling said that the patent might apply.
Although the
US
patent expired in 2003, and the
European patent is due to expire this year, E-Data has been
aggressively suing for past violations of the patent.
In August last year it sued 14 US companies, including
Amazon.com and Ticketmaster, saying they infringed the patent.
