Digital picture row erupts over patent claims

The gloves are off as MIT calls in the legal department...

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Electronics For Imaging (EFI) have sued 94 technology companies for breaking the patenting rules in image editing technology. MIT and EFI claim they have an exclusive licence for the image editing software which was developed by MIT professor William Schreiber and used in photo scanners and digital cameras. The lawsuit, filed last week in a federal court in Texas, says other companies should pay licence fees for the past six years. No exact figure for the licence fee was released. Companies mentioned in the lawsuit include IBM, Microsoft and Polaroid.