Forgent Networks sues an additional 11 companies for patent infringement.
Forgent Networks (Nasdaq:FORG) announced recently that its wholly owned subsidiary, Compression Labs, Inc., has initiated litigation against 11 companies for infringement of United States Patent No. 4,698,672 (the '672 Patent) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. The defendants are: Acer America Corporation, AudioVox Corporation (Nasdaq:VOXX), BancTec, Inc., BenQ America Corporation, Color Dreams, Inc. (d/b/a StarDot Technologies), Google Inc., ScanSoft, Inc. (Nasdaq:SSFT), Sun Microsystems Inc. (Nasdaq:SUNW), TiVo Inc. (Nasdaq:TIVO), Veo Inc., Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO).In April 2004, Compression Labs initiated litigation against 31 companies for infringement of the '672 Patent in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Marshall Division. In July 2004, 24 of these same defendants sued Forgent and Compression Labs in U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware seeking declaratory relief of non-infringement, invalidity and unenforceability of the '672 Patent.
"Forgent intends to vigorously pursue and defend the pending litigations," said Richard Snyder, chairman and CEO of Forgent. "We are committed to the intellectual property program and our objective remains to protect our intellectual property assets from infringement."
Since the company's inception, Forgent has designed and developed strategies to help find new and better ways to solve problems. As these solutions were found, the company patented and then sought to commercialize these innovative technologies. This effort has created a diverse portfolio of intellectual property such as data compression, video mail, videoconferencing, video call scheduling, and many others. The company's patent portfolio includes the combined invention of Compression Labs, Inc., VTEL Corporation, and Forgent Networks, Inc.
Over the last two years the intellectual property business has generated approximately $90 million from licensing the '672 Patent to over 30 different companies in Asia, Europe and the United States. The '672 Patent relates to digital image compression, and fields of use include any digital still image device used to compress, store, manipulate, print or transmit digital still images such as digital cameras. However, the '672 Patent extends beyond digital cameras and includes many digital still image devices such as personal digital assistants, cellular telephones, printers, scanners, and other devices used to compress, store, manipulate, print or transmit digital still images. Forgent has the exclusive right to license and enforce all the claims under the '672 Patent in all fields of use involving digital still image compression.
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| Title Annotation: | United States Patent No. 4,698,672 |
|---|---|
| Publication: | EDP Weekly's IT Monitor |
| Geographic Code: | 1USA |
| Date: | Aug 30, 2004 |
| Words: | 399 |
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