proj-imim:
Re: IPX 3 fisheye panorama
Gummy Bear 2000-May-20 20:13:05
A good article about how messed up things
are at the US Patent and Tradmark office:
http://www.around.com/patent.html
Gummy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dan Slater" <#removed#>
To: "Andrew Nemeth" <#removed#>
Cc: "Immersive Imaging" <#removed#>
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 4:56 PM
Subject: Re: IPX 3 fisheye panorama
> 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
>
>
>