The California Institute of Technology is suing six electronic retail giants it says are illegally profiting off the school’s patented technology used in today’s digital cameras. The complaint, filed Oct. 15 in federal court in Tyler, TX, accuses Canon USA, Sony Corp., Nikon Inc., Olympus America, Panasonic Corp. and Samsung Electronics Co. of infringing on Caltech patents “… by making, using, selling … without authority, products that fall within the scope of the claims of the Caltech patents” Caltech also alleges that the companies knew of the patents, but have “nonetheless engaged in the infringing conduct.” The willful infringement claim carries the potential for treble damages if Caltech succeeds in court. In a statement, Caltech said it “is committed to guarding its intellectual property and is hopeful that the defendants will work with Caltech to promptly reach an agreement respecting Caltech’s intellectual property rights.” The suit alleges that the companies are infringing on six U.S. patents covering active-pixel technology, which uses image sensors on a chip to reduced “noise,” resulting in clearer images. The camera-on-a-chip technology was developed by Eric R. Fossum — a former Caltech researcher who went on to commercialize the innovation — in the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), which is managed by the school. “What we developed at JPL has become very useful technology for consumer applications, including cell phones,” Fossum says. The technology is now used in camera phones, digital SLR cameras, web cameras and high-speed motion capture cameras. After leaving Caltech, Fossum continued to develop the technology in private industry and is currently a consultant to Samsung, one of the companies Caltech sued. “It’s pretty clear Caltech owns certain intellectual property that was developed at JPL,” he said. “But any other arrangements are up to JPL.”

If Caltech prevails in the lawsuit, legal observers say the Pasadena school could reap a huge settlement, particularly in the willfulness charge is upheld. The suit alleges that the technology is included in nearly 70 commercial products, including popular cameras such as the Canon EOS Digital Rebel XT; the Nikon D300; Olympus E-3; Panasonic Lumix DMC-L10; and the Sony DSLR-A700. Go to: Pasadena Star-News

Posted October 29th, 2008 under Tech Transfer

Write a comment