On Sunday, July 21, 2002, at 07:30 , Sanjay Chadha wrote:
> I noticed that the patent was filed in 1986 so assuming 17 years to a
> life
> of a patent there seems to be 1 to 2 years left on the JPEG patent.
And why would you assume 17 years ?
Patents are generally granted for 20 years (unless it is a utility
patent) from the priority date (first filing date), so if they pay their
annual renewal fees to keep the patent alive (bi-annual in some
countries), then there will be another 4 years left.
And then there are various tricks to extend beyond the 20 years by
filing a patent which improves on the original one. This facility has
come under criticism because pharma companies do it as a matter of
principle even if they have no real improvement, taking advantage of the
bureaucracy. So, it may well be another 5-10 years before this patent is
really gone.
> However
> royalties can be collected for use of patent before it had expired.
Yes. And that is why simply changing to PNG or whatever else won't solve
the problem as the patent holders can pursue royalties for past usage.
regards
benjamin
Received on Sun Jul 21 07:04:40 2002