PUBPAT CHALLENGES DATA COMPRESSION PATENT

PUBPAT CHALLENGES DATA COMPRESSION PATENT TO PROTECT JPEG FORMAT: Patent
Office Provided New Evidence Proving Patent Asserted Against
International Standard Is Invalid

NEW YORK – November 16, 2005 – The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT")
filed a formal request with the United States Patent and Trademark
Office today to revoke Compression Labs Inc.'s patent on data
compression that the company is widely asserting against an
international standard for the electronic sharing of photo-quality
images. In its filing, PUBPAT submitted previously unseen prior art
showing that the patent, which was issued in 1987, was not new and, as
such, should be revoked.

"CLI is using the '672 patent to harass anyone that implements the Joint
Photographic Experts Group ('JPEG') format," states PUBPAT's Request for
Ex Parte Reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672. "CLI's aggressive
assertion of the '672 patent is causing substantial public harm by
threatening this international standard on which the public relies."

Forgent Networks Inc. (Nasdaq:FORG) acquired Compression Labs in 1997
and began an aggressive campaign of asserting the '672 patent roughly a
year and a half ago, a decade after the patent was originally issued, by
filing infringement lawsuits against dozens of companies that offer the
public products or services relating to electronic image creation or
distribution. Despite having a fledgling software offering, the
assertion of patents is Forgent Networks' principal business activity.

"Forgent Networks is a classic example of the new and rapidly growing
trend of patent holders that do nothing more than sue people who make
products or services available to the public," said Dan Ravicher,
PUBPAT's Executive Director. "Unfortunately, the patent system allows
for such perverse behavior because it cares more about patent holders
than it does the public."

PUBPAT's Request for Ex Parte Reexamination of U.S. Patent No. 4,698,672
can be found at http://www.pubpat.org/Protecting.htm.

Contact:

Daniel Ravicher, Executive Director, Public Patent Foundation: (212)
796-0570; [email protected]; www.pubpat.org.

About PUBPAT:

The Public Patent Foundation ("PUBPAT") is a not-for-profit legal
services organization working to protect the public from the harms
caused by the patent system, particularly the harms caused by wrongly
issued patents and unsound patent policy. PUBPAT provides the general
public and those specific persons or businesses otherwise deprived of
access to the system governing patents, with representation, advocacy,
and education. To be kept informed of PUBPAT News, subscribe to the
PUBPAT News List by sending an email with "subscribe" in the subject
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List, send an email with "unsubscribe" in the subject line to
[email protected].

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