proj-imim:
Re: IPX 3 fisheye panorama
Dan Slater 2000-May-20 00:56:21
Andrew Nemeth wrote:
> >> I found out that IPIX will be using 3 fisheye shots with the next release
> >
> >Ipix is being sued by Ford Oxaal for violating his patent on
> >two fisheye-photography. I suspect the change is in response
> >to this lawsuit.
>
> Most amusing if this is the case!
>
> I remember how 'holier-than-thou' our IPIX friends
> were when they 'won' the Smoothmove patent lawsuit
> back in 1998.
>
> And now all of a sudden the make the switch to 3x
> fisheyes to try to wriggle out of a patent attack.
>
> I mean, just how evil can a company get? Sheesh.
> satan.com.
>
> :?)
Actually IPIX can get even worse. My story:
Around 1992 I built a camera called the Spherecam. The Spherecam has been on the
web for quite some time and is further described at:
http://www.nearfield.com/~dan/Photo/sphere/sphere.htm
In March of 1996 I published an article in a panoramic photography magazine
describing both the camera and software processing (The article is available at
the above URL). Just after the article was published, Omniview (predecessor to
IPIX) asked me many questions about it and wanted sample images, etc. I was told
by an IPIX person that they went ahead and built one although with larger lenses
and shot a bunch of test shots, etc.
Unknown to me until very recently: In May of 1997 IPIX went ahead and filed for
a patent on my Spherecam. This patent issued late last year.
http://patent.womplex.ibm.com/details?&pn=US06002430__
Needless to say I also am not happy with IPIX.
To add insult to injury one of the IPIX lawyers contacted me several months back
(before I found out about the Spherecam patent) to see if I was interested in
becoming an expert witness to help IPIX in the law suit of IPIX vs Ford Oxaal.
Needless to say I turned them down.
Dan Slater