Here some background info on the "We're Ipix and we own everything and we'll sue your ass off to achieve our IPO ambitions" saga. Item A (below)This is a copy of the text placed by David Ripley( Infinite Pictures )on the Smoothmove site in early 98.This was in response to the jury's decision in the Ipix V's Smoothmove case. Now this is important. This case is not over!!! Keep in mind that the Court determined nothing - only a jury found against IPI(Smoothmove). When the Court (judge) has ruled, it has always been in IPI's favour. Patents are complex and the Judge has still not ruled in this case- after 14 months!!!!!!!!! See Civil Action No. 3-96-849 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Northern Division, at Knoxville. (if someone could find a transcript of this case it would be great-love to here Ipix's argument to the jury) Read Dave Ripley's text below $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ " I want to take this opportunity to inform you of a recent court decision that could potentially impact Infinite Pictures, Inc. As you may be aware, one of our competitors, Interactive Pictures, of Knoxville, Tennessee, filed a lawsuit against us in 1996 alleging an infringement of one of their patents. While we won the first two rounds in court (restraining order and preliminary injunction), a recent jury decision ruled in favour of Interactive Pictures. The jury's decision is not yet final, as there are still legal issues for the court to decide. However,if the jury's decision is confirmed by the judge, seaming/viewing of panoramas built from fisheye photos using Infinite Picture products will be considered as infringing on Interactive Pictures’patent. Only the photo seamer used together with our viewer should be affected by this finding. The viewer used to view other panoramas, such as computer graphic pans, does not infringe. Nor do any of our other products infringe. We strongly disagree with this ruling and are in the process of filing all of the necessary legal motions required to correct this situation in both the courts and the U.S. Patent Office. We believe that we do not infringe Interactive Pictures’ patent. We also have contended in our court pleadings that their patent is invalid on several counts. Not all of these issues have been finally resolved." David Ripley $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Item B This Ipix's Press release from their site at the same time.(still available:see www.ipix.com press releases Feb 10, 1998) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ JURY UPHOLDS INTERACTIVE PICTURES' PATENTS IN INFRINGEMENT CASE Company Now Stands Alone as Provider of Fisheye-Lens-Based Immersive Photography OAK RIDGE, Feb. 10, 1998 – A United States District Court jury has upheld as valid and infringed the core patent upon which IPIX immersive photography technology is based. The jury’s decision provides court-tested validation of the company’s core patent. The jury held that Interactive Pictures Corporation has the exclusive rights to immersive photography created with a fisheye lens. Interactive Pictures' patented technology allows users to interact within a photographic image. The patented technology represents the building blocks for photographic virtual reality and three-dimensional photographic imaging. Interactive Pictures filed suit against Infinite Pictures, Inc. of Portland, Ore. in October of 1996. Interactive Pictures claimed that Infinite Pictures ’ SmoothMove and RealWorld Navigation Design Series products infringed Interactive Pictures', U.S. Patent No. 5,185,667. The jury found for the plaintiff, Interactive Pictures, unanimously on all counts of the verdict and awarded damages of $1,000,000 to Interactive Pictures. Interactive Pictures will request entry of a permanent injunction against Infinite Pictures to prevent further marketing of products based on the infringing technology upon entry of the jury’s verdict by the court. "This is the first court test of our patent portfolio and the jury has stated loud and clear that IPIX technology is pioneering, unique, and protected," said Jim Phillips, CEO of Interactive Pictures. "A judicially tested and vindicated patent portfolio makes Interactive Pictures a much stronger company and gives us a tremendous advantage in penetrating new markets and growing our company." As a result of the decision, Interactive Pictures is now the only company in the United States with the rights to use a wide-angle fisheye lens to create immersive photographs. Last September, Live Picture Corporation, which also had been sued by Interactive Pictures for patent infringement, agreed that the Interactive Pictures patents were valid and enforceable. Live Picture also agreed to stop its use of fisheye lenses. A judgement of infringement also has been entered against Bill Tillman awarding Interactive Pictures damages of approximately $967,000. Tillman, doing business as Graphic Effects, used the infringing Infinite Pictures products on the World Wide Web. IPIX immersive photography technology now stands alone in the industry, protected by a Federal Court jury decision. The possibility of an emerging standard in immersive photography is more likely as a result of this decision. With IPIX images as a de-facto standard, doors are open to wider-scale marketing of IPIX technology and growth of the company. Steven Zimmermann, corporate fellow at Interactive Pictures and co-inventor of the patented technology said, "It’s incredibly gratifying to know that all the hard work we did back in the early 1990’s was affirmed by a jury. This is a major recognition for all those late nights and weekends. Now we can really accelerate this technology into the market and continue to advance it." A computer and electrical engineering professor at the University of Tennessee and 1978 graduate of MIT was involved in the case from the beginning. Dr. Doug Birdwell, Ph.D. served as an expert witness at the trial for Interactive Pictures and testified that the Infinite Pictures products used technology that infringed on the patented IPIX technology. Birdwell said, "The Interactive Pictures patent was a pioneering patent, representing an enormous advance over the prior art. The infringer, Infinite Pictures, attempted to take the heart of the IPIX technology and the jury correctly found that this was infringement of the core Interactive Pictures patent." Beyond the positive impact on the strength of Interactive Pictures’ patent portfolio, the case may become a landmark in the field of patent law. This is one of the first times that a patent infringement case has successfully been brought against a company that used the Internet to commit acts of patent infringement. Interactive Pictures was represented by Washington, D.C. patent law firm Banner & Witcoff, Ltd. By showing that Infinite Pictures sold the infringing products over the Internet to customers in Tennessee, Interactive Pictures was able to establish jurisdiction for the case in the United States District Court for the Eastern Division of Tennessee. Beyond the issue of jurisdiction the infringer, Infinite Pictures, sold the infringing product over the Internet giving rise to one of the first cases that showed that patent infringement occurred through the use of the World Wide Web. Speaking of the technology’s inventors, Steve Zimmermann and Dr. Lee Martin, Phillips said, "Today, as was Thomas Edison, these inventors have been granted a chance to profit from their labor and give their revolutionary invention an opportunity to succeed in the marketplace." For information, contact: •Ed Lewis, Interactive Pictures Corporation phone: 423-482-3000 •Robert Cathey, Ackermann Public Relations phone: 423-584-0550 See Civil Action No. 3-96-849 in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee, Northern Division, at Knoxville. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Ipix attack on Live Picture Now a several months prior to the Smoothmove attack Ipix threatened Live Picture. The fight never went to court and agreement was reached between the two companies. Live Picture no longer has the press releases available on their site concerning this fight. Alarmingly all record has been removed from the press archive. As you will read in Item C, Essentially Ipix forced Live Picture to disable support for fisheye lenses with 180° or greater field of view and wide-angle rectilinear lenses with 110° or greater field of view in all future releases of PhotoVista and to inform existing PhotoVista customers that these lenses are no longer supported. As part of the deal Ipix would start "integrating the FlashPix SDK, IPIX images will become FlashPix-enabled. With this new functionality, Web sites can support panning and zooming of IPIX images through Live Picture's RealSpace Image Server." Now here's the interesting part. The press release below has been removed from Ipix's site. As far as I know Ipix never implemented their end of the deal. Live Picture at the time had issued a press release that strenuously refuted Ipix's claims to the use of fisheyes but alas this release was hastily removed. But even more interesting is that Ipix forced Live Picture to remove photovistas support for rectilinear lenses with an angle greater than 110 degrees!!!!! Item C a press release from Ipix's site concerning the deal(no longer available) $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ INTERACTIVE PICTURES AND LIVE PICTURE TO COLLABORATE ON INTERACTIVE IMAGING PRODUCTS Live Picture to Discontinue Support for Certain Wide-Angle Lenses in PhotoVista™ Licenses FlashPix™ SDK to Interactive Pictures For information, contact: Ed Lewis, Interactive Pictures 423-482-3000 OAK RIDGE, Tenn., and SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. (Sept. 15, 1997) - Interactive Pictures Corp. and Live Picture Corp. today announced that the two companies will collaborate on a new interactive imaging solution incorporating Interactive Pictures' IPIX™ immersive photography technology and Live Picture's FlashPix image server technology. The collaboration is part of an IPIX patent agreement reached by the two companies in which Live Picture has agreed to discontinue support for certain wide-angle and fisheye lenses in its PhotoVista software, and Interactive Pictures has agreed to license the Live Picture FlashPix Software Developer Kit (SDK) to develop server-centric imaging solutions for wide-angle photography. "Interactive Pictures is delighted to work with Live Picture to develop a next-generation, FlashPix imaging solution that incorporates our complementary image technologies and file formats," said James Phillips, Chairman and CEO of Interactive Pictures Corporation. "Live Picture recognizes the value and importance of our IPIX patents for creating immersive images, and now Live Picture and Interactive Pictures will work strategically to advance the next generation of photography." Live Picture's PhotoVista software is an easy to use program for creating immersive panoramic images by stitching together a series of photos taken with a variety of lens types. Interactive Pictures developed and patented the process for combining two photographs taken with fisheye lenses and wide-angle rectilinear lenses and providing distortion removal and perspective correction. Live Picture has agreed to disable support for fisheye lenses with 180° or greater field of view and wide-angle rectilinear lenses with 110° or greater field of view in all future releases of PhotoVista and to inform existing PhotoVista customers that these lenses are no longer supported. "Interactive Pictures is a major player in the immersive imaging market and Live Picture is very excited to welcome them as a FlashPix SDK developer," said Kathleen M. Mitchell, President and CEO of Live Picture, Corp. "By integrating the FlashPix SDK, IPIX images will become FlashPix-enabled. With this new functionality, Web sites can support panning and zooming of IPIX images through Live Picture's RealSpace Image Server." Interactive Pictures and IPIX are trademarks of Interactive Pictures Corporation. MMX is a trademark of Intel Corp. Live Picture is a registered trademark and PhotoVista is a trademark of Live Picture Corp. FlashPix is a trademark of Eastman Kodak. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Here's a little summary of Ipix's corporate tactics 1. Change company name and product direction and seek venture capital. The name Telerobitcs(Interactive Pictures former incarnation) won't appeal to the multimedia community and potential venture capitalists. Besides must remove the company from the taint of the weapons industry. Target acquisition was Telerobotics main game. The money is drying up in defence industries - the cold war is over. Oh, and the smelly business of endoscopes. Preferred option get a large computer technology company on board with computer legitimacy and a kick ass legal budget. Enter Motorola and name change to Omniview 2. After identifying the other companies and individuals working and competing in the field of photo vr start to claim something unique about your technology patents (enter focus on fisheye and spherical VR's). Convince venture capitalists that you have sole rights and ownership to technology and no prior art exists. Use this belief to secure more bucks from the money men for a staged expansion of the company(shit, it's a sure winner guys we have the patents ). Get more bucks from the initial technology investor(Motorola) and hire some of their people. Use this corporate cred to pull a major media player on board with bucks to spare and some media marketing experience enter Discovery ). Discovery convinced by you that you have a patent protected winner asks for and gets an all exclusive agreement for content produced by the software system to prevent their competitors using it, in return for investment. 3. Stage 1 commence planning for the IPO. Buy up all the fisheye lenses you can possibly get your hands on. Strike allegiances with film and camera companies. Offer franchises worldwide. Sucker in a network of photographers and developers for community credibility but don't tell them about the exclusive content license.(it's in the fine print anyway) Charge per click to keep the coffers topped up. Oh and the marketing gurus suggest another name change. Enter Interactive Pictures. 4. Stage 2 Planning final preparation for the IPO. Cashed up on venture capital start threatening the competition with legal action and find at least one to drag into court to set a precedent to warn the rest of the competitors. This will convince investors in the IPO that you'll be the only one left standing in the market(shit, it's a sure winner guys we have the patents and have successfully defended them!) 5. Stage 3 Cement IPO plans to ensure it's success. Apply for more patents on the same technology but reword them to give greater support your technology claims. So if someone comes at you with a bigger legal stick at least one of the patents should survive for a fall back position. This will also help tie up competitors in the courts for years preventing their technology from competing with you in the marketplace while you tie it all up. If any technology arises and looks like competition, regardless of whether it infringes on your patents or not, slap them on the head with a big legal mallet to prevent them from getting up(enter Helmut Dersch). 6. Laugh all the way to the bank while stepping on the bodies of all the creative innovators you have disembowelled. Immune to the sobs of all those people who are stuck with costly inferior technology which somehow became an industry standard. Interesting reading material Please note that the jury's decision was based upon this patent - Interactive Pictures', U.S. Patent No. 5,185,667. Have a careful read and remember the judge has not conluded his decision in the Interactive Pictures V's Infinite Pictures case. 14 months since the jury's decision. http://www.uspto.gov/patft/index.html 4656516 Ritchey 4752836 Blanton 4807158 Blanton 5023725 McCutcheon 5130794 Ritchey 5185667 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix 5200818 Neta 5204944 Wolberg/Columbia University 5224208 Miller/Hewlett Packard 5313306 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix(endoscope application) 5359363 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix 5384588 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix 5396583 Apple 5446833 Apple 5561756 Apple 5646677 Reber(Motorola-an Ipix equity partner) 5764276 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix(application filed Oct. 96) 5691765 Sesormatic Electronics Corporation 5694531 Infinite Pictures(smoothmove) 5796426 Warp Ltd. 5870135 Glatt 5877801 Telerobotics/Omniview/Intractive Pictures/Ipix(application filed June. 97) Has anyone heard of these two papers at all. G W Furnas "Generalized Fisheye Views" - Human factors in computing systems. from CHI conference 1986 an ACM publication - New York Kurtis J Ritchey Telepresence Systems - Display System Optics Presentation on March 30,31 1989 to SPIE