March 21, 2005 — Ampex Corporation signed a license agreement with Olympus today, allowing the digital camera manufacturer to use their patented imaging technologies. Olympus will pay the company $3 million for past patent infringements and pay running royalties in the future, according to an Ampex press release. This isn’t the first major manufacturer to pay up to Ampex; Pentax, Panasonic, and Sony have all settled similar negotiations with the company within the last six months.
Ampex will receive running royalties only for the sales of digital cameras manufactured and sold by Olympus. This will not include cameras manufactured by other companies and branded with the Olympus name. The Ampex press release stated, “Ampex believes that a significant portion of cameras sold under the Olympus brand are manufactured by a company that is also a licensee of Ampex’s patents and anticipates that royalties on these products will be paid by the supplier and not by Olympus.”
Ampex began litigations against Eastman Kodak Company last October for similar patent infringements and expects negotiations to end within 90 days.
