1. A method for processing digital signals, where the digital signals have first values, second values and other values, to reduce the amount of data utilized to represent the digital signals and to form statistically coded signals such that the more frequently occurring values of digital signals are represented by shorter code lengths and the less frequently occurring values of digital signals are represented by longer code lengths, comprising,
forming first runlength code values representing the number of consecutive first values of said digital signals followed by said second value,
forming second runlength code values representing the number of consecutive first values of said digital signals followed by one of said other values.

About those first, second, and other values - that's JPEG, the ubiquitous compressed picture format supported by every graphics program known to man.

Wow! That must be worth serious folding money. Yes, indeed - so far, over $100 million, and still counting. The JPEG patent is due to expire next year, and it's going out in style.

Forgent Networks, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Compression Labs, owns 4,698,672, and has been sticking it to every software company supporting JPEG. So far in its the three-year old licensing campaign, some well-known companies have knuckled under, including Sony, Adobe and Macromedia; these among 35 different companies in Europe, Asia, and the United States. IBM, Dell, Apple, Hewlett-Packard, Xerox, Eastman-Kodak, and Google, are, however, still under the gun.

Then there's Microsoft. Forgent was in licensing negotiations with Microsoft over '672. Not any more. Throwing down the gauntlet first, Microsoft sued Forget for a declaratory judgment of noninfringement, invalidity and unenforceability. Take that!

As violins played in the background, Richard Snyder, chairman and CEO of Forgent, said, "It's unfortunate that, despite Microsoft's recent inquiries about licensing the patent, they chose to file a lawsuit, leaving us no alternative but to assert infringement claims against it. ... Our objective remains to protect our intellectual property assets from infringement, and, where appropriate, to collect a reasonable royalty fee, thus maximizing shareholder value."

At this point, only one thing is certain: the game is hot at the patent craps table. When it's all over, someone is going to be quoted as saying, "I've got your compression right here, pal."