“Helmut Dersch received a letter in April from solicitors
representing the Tennessee-based digital imaging company IPIX,
accusing him of patent infringement”
“Dersch runs his own Web site and published a 3-D image of the
Grand Canyon produced using software he had designed as a hobby and
with pictures available for download free of charge.”
“IPIX’s action against him brought to light a number of lawsuits
being waged by IPIX against companies and individuals using what
are termed panoramic tools to create virtual reality (VR) images
with what many developers claim is a simple technique.”
“Bubble images, or IPIX, are created essentially by joining two
180-degree photographs taken using a fish-eye lens.”