Panasonic Settles with Digitech in Digital Camera Patent Dispute

Court: California Central District Court

Judge: Otis D. Wright, II

On Oct 2012, Digitech Image Technologies filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Panasonic alleging that they violated their patent, which describes a method of allowing the camera to capture, transform or render a digital image. The patent in suit was US6128415 entitled ‘Device profiles for use in a digital image processing system’, issued on Oct 03, 2000 and expiring[i] by Sep 06, 2016.  The patent was originally assigned to Polaroid (which brought a lawsuit against Kodak in the year 1986, and eventually Kodak was forced to stop manufacture both the camera and film) and is currently assigned[ii] to Morood International (source: MaxVal’s Assignment Database). As per the complaint, Digitech is the owner of the patent.

The complaint stated that the Panasonic manufactures products/devices comprising a method to capture/transform the processed image as claimed in the ‘415 patent. The accused products were Panasonic digital camera and models include: Lumix DMC-TS4, Lumix DMC - ZS20, Lumix DMC - ZS19, Lumix DMC - ZS15, Lumix DMC - SZ7, Lumix DMC - TS20, Lumix DMC - SZ1, Lumix DMC - FH8, Lumix DMC - FH6, Lumix DMC - S2, Lumix DMC - 3D1K, Lumix LX5, Lumix FZ150K, Lumix FZ47, Lumix ZS10, Lumix GF5, Lumix GX1, Lumix GH2, Lumix GF3, Lumix G3 and Lumix GF2.  The complaint sought money damages and all other relief to which the Court may deem the plaintiff entitled.

The case concluded on Jul 26, as the parties have reported to Court that they have settled the case. Pursuant to the announcement made Court ordered dismissal of claims and counterclaims with prejudice.  All attorneys’ fees, costs and expenses are to be borne by the respective party. The terms of settlement are undisclosed.    

Similarly, other cases filed by Digitech against Sony, Acer and Motorola asserting the same patent ended in settlement. 

See case 8:12-cv-01667 for more details. To get alerts on cases filed/closed, subscribe to our Litigation Alerts. 

Are you looking for a tool to calculate patent terms? Try Patent Term Estimator, our free tool or download our free Android app on Google Play Store.  

 

---

[i] Expected expiration date. Patent Term Estimator is a free web-based tool that automatically calculates patent terms and expiration dates for U.S. utility patents.

[ii] MaxVal offers Patent Assignment Alert service where subscribers receive email alerts when assignments relating to target applications, patents or entities of interest are recorded.