E-Data sues Getty Images and Corbis

[Update August 10: To all readers who come in via the Getty Images Link:
Here are the latest news regarding E-Data:
"PACA Cries Out Loud: E-Data Against The Stock Photo Industry, Part II"
"E-Data: Settlement with Apple Computer, Pending Litigation Against Getty Images And Corbis"
"Getty Images Creates Online Resource For Industry Defense Against E-Data"]

Digital media company E-Data has announced it had filed patent infringement lawsuits against Getty Images and Corbis, the latest companies that may eventually be forced to pay licensing fees to directly sell their products over the Internet (News.com).

Kioskmarketplace reports that Getty Images and Corbis enable the sale and download of stock photos and images over the Internet [boyz, great news for us] to customers at a remote location, where the material was purchased and reproduced, which falls within the scope of E-Data´s patent. The patent covers the downloading and recording of information, such as photographs, news articles, films, etc., from a computer onto a tangible object, such as a tape, a CD, or a sheet of paper.

Collectively, these two companies generate well over US $130 million per year in Europe from the sale and download of stock photos and images.

Bert Brodsky, chairman of E-Data Corporation stated, "Getty Images and Corbis are in blatant violation of our patents by enabling consumers across Europe to download photographs. Given our recent settlements in Europe with Microsoft, Tiscali, On Demand Distribution, and Satellite Newspapers, as well as our favorable rulings in the U.S., we are quite confident in the scope of our patents."

E-Data is represented by Howrey Simon Arnold & White, MNP, an internationally renowned law firm, to initiate an aggressive new licensing and patent-enforcement campaign in the 10 European Union countries where E-Data Corporation owns the rights to the Freeny patent. In the United States, E-Data has secured more than 30 domestic licenses and has received a favorable decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on November 6, 2000, supporting the scope of the company´s patents.

With its U.S. patent having expired in January of last year, E-Data has until December 2008 to file any retroactive claims against companies it believes infringed on its patent when it was still in effect. As a result, E-Data is seeking to file its U.S. lawsuits as soon as possible, said Gerald Angowitz, special assistant to E-Data chairman Bert Brodsky. In Europe, E-Data's patent does not expire until 2005. As a result, the company has shifted its litigation attention to Europe. It currently has a lawsuit against Corbis and Getty in the Netherlands and United Kingdom courts (Globetechnology).

While Corbis and Getty are the latest lawsuits E-Data has filed a suit against, Angowitz said, they are by no means the last.

"Representatives from E-Data and Corbis were not immediately available for comment" (News.com).

Who´s next? Zefa and other big agencies? RF-Portals? How small has your agency to be not to get hit?