[Infowarrior] - JPEG Patent's Single Claim Rejected

[Richard Forno]

JPEG Patent's Single Claim Rejected (And Smacked Down For Good Measure)

We've been covering the ongoing saga of an old patent we've referred  
to as the "JPEG Patent." This actually isn't the first patent we've  
called the JPEG Patent, because multiple people claimed to hold  
patents over the technology that goes into a JPEG image. But, this one  
was rather special. The patent had been used, repeatedly, by lawyer  
Ray Niro, against a wide range of opponents, including a patent system  
critic. The end result was a drawn out review process where all of the  
original claims were rejected, but a single new claim was added to the  
patent, which Niro insisted covered JPEGs on a website.

Earlier this year, the Patent Office agreed to re-examine that claim.  
On top of that, a judge overseeing one of the lawsuits involving the  
patent decided to put the suit on hold pending the outcome of the re- 
exam. Of course, the re-exam will take some time, but the initial re- 
exam came out recently and it does not look good for this patent:

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http://techdirt.com/articles/20080731/0337491852.shtml