Huge JPEG patent infringement suit filed against Microsoft, Apple, IBM, many others

In a filing in United States District Court on Monday, Forgent Networks, whose subsidiary, Compression Labs, Inc. is the current patent holder for JPEG image compression technology, filed suit principally against Microsoft, plus what appears to be, by the company’s count, "approximately 40" technology companies, representing just about everybody that anyone recognizes. The claim is apparently patent infringement, though details were not provided.

The complete list of parties named in the suit :

Acer America Corporation, Agfa Corporation, Apple Computer, Incorporated, BancTec, Inc., BenQ America Corporation, Canon, USA, Concord Camera Corporation, Color Dreams, Inc., Creative Labs, Incorporated, Creo, Inc., Creo Americas, Inc., Dell Incorporated, Eastman Kodak Company , Fuji Photo Film Co U.S.A, Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Gateway, Inc., Google Inc., Hewlett-Packard Company, International Business Machines Corp., JASC Software, JVC Americas Corporation, Kyocera Wireless Corporation, Matsushita Electric Corporation of America, Microsoft Corporation, Mitsubishi Digital Electronics America, Incorporated, Oce’ North America, Incorporated, Onkyo Corporation, PalmOne, Inc., Panasonic Communications Corporation of America, Panasonic Mobile Communications Development Corporation of USA, Ricoh Corporation, Riverdeep, Incorporated (d.b.a. Broderbund), Savin Corporation, ScanSoft, Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc, Thomson S.A., TiVo Inc., Toshiba Corporation, Veo Inc., Xerox Corporation, and Yahoo ! Inc.