RIM bows to Jpeg patent

Research in Motion (RIM), maker of the popular Blackberry email device, has signed a licensing agreement with Forgent for a patent that covers the Jpeg image file format.

Terms of the agreement weren't disclosed.

The deal involves a lifetime licence for RIM to use the patent 4,698,672 - better known as the 672 patent - which covers a compression technique for digital images that is used in computers and mobile devices such as digital cameras, mobile phones and personal digital assistants.

In the past three years Forgent has actively enforced its compression patent and has made more than $100m from licensees including Sony. It is pursuing legal action for patent infringement against a group of about 40 companies including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Dell and HP. 

Microsoft filed a counter lawsuit on 15 April 2005 claming that the Jpeg patent is invalid, and suggested that Forgent fraudulently obtained the patent by failing to disclose 'prior art'.

Prior art is a legal term indicating that the patent holder was not the first to invent the technology covered by the patent. The vast majority of disputed technology patents are invalidated because of prior art.