ISO Could Withdraw JPEG Standard

McSpew writes "According to The Register, the ISO is prepared to withdraw JPEG as a standard if Forgent Networks continues to assert its patent claims over JPEG's compression algorithm." I'm sure the JPEG committee would still be happy to hear of prior art.

Comments

Re:PNG

[Mitchell Mebane]

Maybe, but PNG and JPEG are two entirely different paradigms.

JPEG is a lossy algorithm, which gets rid of "unnoticeable" parts of the image, in order to lower the file size.

PNG, on the other hand, is a lossless algorithm, which, when decompressed, gives you byte-for-byte the original image.

If we lose PNG, we can come up with something else. Good lossless algorithms abound. But, AFAIK, there aren't that many GOOD replacements for JPEG.

Two decades!?

[Midnight Thunder]

According to this document utility patents last 20 years and design patents last 15. If as the article indicates this letigation is after two decades of usage in JPEG, then either JPEG existed before the patent or the patent is about to expire, if it hasn't yet done so.