St. Clair vs. Fuji - St. Clair, a patent holding company from the Detroit area, is awaiting a jury's verdict this morning in its case against Fuji Photo Film Co. in U.S. District Court in Wilmington, Del. St. Clair seeks $18 million in the trial, which started last week, shortly after another jury awarded St. Clair $34.7 million in its case against Canon. The disputes are over technology that allows digital cameras to take pictures in more than one format, such as TIFF and JPEG files. The technology also covers cameras that can take short video clips besides still pictures.

Maybe it's me, but I'm starting to notice more and more patent attorneys that are starting their own holding companies and are making a veritable killing off of their portfolios. I have even heard rumors that some of the more "famous" patent plaintiff firms are quietly building portfolios through which they hope to yield similar results. If anyone knows whether the rumor about the firms are true (I'll give you a hint - they are located in Chicago and Minneapolis), please e-mail me with the details - inquiring minds want to know . . .

For example, this outfit has been suing everyone in the last few years, and seems to be making a pretty penny from their efforts.