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January 25, 2005 – Ampex Corporation signed license agreements with three digital camera manufacturers, it announced yesterday. The company designs and licenses digital imaging technologies, this time to Pentax, Panasonic and JVC. In November 2004, Ampex signed a deal with Sony – but only after a lawsuit that required Sony to pay $40 million for patent infringements. Pentax, Panasonic, and JVC are in the same predicament: the three companies will pay a combined $5.5 million in the first fiscal quarter to Ampex for past infringements and will continue to pay running royalties.
The terms of the agreement are confidential, but they do permit use of several of Ampex’s United States and foreign patents in the manufacturing and sale of digital cameras. Ampex claims they are continuing negotiations with other manufacturers of camera phones and digital cameras, such as Eastman Kodak Company, and expect agreements to be made within the next 90 days.