In 2002 Forgent Networks asserted that it owns and will enforce patent rights on the JPEG technology, arising from a patent that had been filed in 1986 (U.S. Patent 4,698,672). The announcement has created a furor reminiscent of Unisys' attempts to assert its rights over the GIF image compression standard.
The JPEG committee investigated the patent claims in 2002 and are of the opinion that they were invalidated by prior art. [1] Others have also concluded that Forgent doesn't have a patent that covers JPEG. [2] Nevertheless, between 2002 and 2004 Forgent was able to obtain about $90 million by licensing their patent to some 30 companies. In April 2004 Forgent sued 31 other companies to enforce further license payments. In July of the same year, a consortium of 21 large computer companies filed a countersuit, with the goal of invalidating the patent. Surprisingly, in contrast to the other major computer companies such as Sony and Philips, Microsoft has launched a major lawsuit against Forgent. As of February 2006, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to re-examine Forgent's JPEG patent at the request of the Public Patent Foundation (Published news article). In principle, the Forgent US patent will expire in 2006. Forgent also possesses a similar patent granted by the European Patent Office in 1994, though it is unclear how enforceable it is.[3]
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However, as far as I see they only sue companies with software that is COMPRESSING to jpg, while DECOMPRESSING is practically in the public domain.
For Textures a 100% quality JPG may be good enough. Using lossy formats (even 100% jpgs) will reduce the image quality especially when it's resampled and saved as jpg multiple times (jpg degeneration).
The JPEG committee investigated the patent claims in 2002 and are of the opinion that they were invalidated by prior art. [1] Others have also concluded that Forgent doesn't have a patent that covers JPEG. [2] Nevertheless, between 2002 and 2004 Forgent was able to obtain about $90 million by licensing their patent to some 30 companies. In April 2004 Forgent sued 31 other companies to enforce further license payments. In July of the same year, a consortium of 21 large computer companies filed a countersuit, with the goal of invalidating the patent. Surprisingly, in contrast to the other major computer companies such as Sony and Philips, Microsoft has launched a major lawsuit against Forgent. As of February 2006, the United States Patent and Trademark Office has agreed to re-examine Forgent's JPEG patent at the request of the Public Patent Foundation (Published news article). In principle, the Forgent US patent will expire in 2006. Forgent also possesses a similar patent granted by the European Patent Office in 1994, though it is unclear how enforceable it is.[3]
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However, as far as I see they only sue companies with software that is COMPRESSING to jpg, while DECOMPRESSING is practically in the public domain.
For Textures a 100% quality JPG may be good enough. Using lossy formats (even 100% jpgs) will reduce the image quality especially when it's resampled and saved as jpg multiple times (jpg degeneration).