The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has rejected some of Forgent Network?s claims to the rights of the JPEG patent. During a patent re-examination process initiated by the Public Patent Foundation (PubPat) last year, the office invalidated “the broadest claims of the patent” in a non-final ruling.
The row dates back to a patent acquired by Texan company Forgent when it purchased Compression Labs in 1997. Over the last few years the company has initiated a series of patent infringement lawsuits against industry giants including Apple, Canon, Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Microsoft over the use of the JPEG format.
Forgent said that this “intellectual property program” has brought in more than $105 million in revenues over the past years – primarily as a result of what has become known as the ‘672’ JPEG patent.
Despite this latest ruling, Forgent Networks feels that it has emerged victorious. The firm said that USPTO upheld a “majority of the patent” – 27 of 46 elements of the ‘672 patent are still in place. In a brief statement, the company said that it would vigorously defend the remaining claims that were not initially upheld in this first office action.