360 degree photo patents bought by Sony

Feb 06, 2007 2 Replies
R

Some might recall the discussions a while back about patents and 360 degree technology. Some interesting followup here (registration free, but required, I believe)


-- Bobby G.


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Sony Wins Bid for Ipix Camera Technology Patents



By Kim Hart Washington Post Staff Writer Monday, February 5, 2007; Page D01



When President Bush gave his 2003 State of the Union address, Ipix captured the room with a panoramic image for online viewers. Movie star Will Smith relied on similar 360-degree photos to go house-hunting in Philadelphia from his California living room. EBay used Ipix technology to display items sold online.



So when the struggling Reston company announced it was auctioning off the patents for its high-resolution camera technology after filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in July, former chief executive Clara Conti wasn't surprised to receive more than 400 inquiries.



. . .



"Somebody completely ran that company off the tracks," he said. "There was so much promise on the security side. Sony got the bargain of the century."



[continues for two pages at site]


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R

I think there is a case of prior art, NASA stitched photos together decades ago to produce pano images.

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R

In another article they talked about how poorly a job the patent office does with issues of prior art. It's usually not until there's broad discussion of a patent on the internet do they find out about significant areas of prior art. I wouldn't be surprised if some of the patents Sony bought get invalidated over time. Even so, sometimes just holding the patent is good enough to generate license fees or cross-licensing deals or better yet, to spook competitors from entering the market. There was just a big decision about Microsoft allegedly infringing on MP3 patents. We'll see how *that* shakes out. MS has more than enough lawyers to ride it out.

-- Bobby G.

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