As Nikon persists to deny and fight back RED’s lawsuit regarding the compressed raw infringement in the Z9, the court has set a jury trial for January 2024. Till then, Z9 users can (most probably) continue shooting on N-RAW and ProRes RAW.
Nikon denies RED’s claims
As we’ve reported previously, Nikon has decided to deny the claimed infringements by RED Digital Cinema and fights back. As stated in Nikon’s response during mitigation: “Nikon prays that the Court enter judgment in its favor and against RED as follows: That RED takes nothing and is denied any relief whatsoever; That RED’s claims against Nikon be dismissed in their entirety and with prejudice; That Nikon be awarded the costs incurred in connection with this action”. Furthermore, Nikon has stated that it denies that RED is entitled to any relief in this action and asked the Court to deny any and all of the relief requested by RED in its Complaint. According to Nikon, the company does not infringe and has not infringed any valid and enforceable claim of the ’967 patent, ’560 patent, ’314 patent, ’976 patent, 384 patent, ’866 patent, or ’168 patent, whether directly or indirectly, literally or under the doctrine of equivalents.
The jury trial is set for January 2024
For those who need a reminder, the RED’s lawsuit focuses on Nikon’s flagship, which is the Z9, which can shoot compressed raw internally (ProRes RAW and N-RAW). It is well known that RED Digital Cinema owns a few patents regarding compressed raw, and these patents are rock solid. Even Sony and Apple have failed to beat those patents. However, it seems that Nikon is determined to win and break the monopoly of compressed raw. As the mitigation process is moving forward, the court has set the following schedule: Last day to amend under Rule 15 November 2022; Technology tutorial hearing – April 2023; Markman hearing (examination of evidence) – May; Last day to hear motions to amend pleadings/add parties – May 2023; Non-expert discovery cutoff – August 2023; Expert discovery cutoff – October 2023; Last day to mediate – December 2023; Final pretrial conference and MIL hearing – January 2024; And finally, the Jury trial – January 23, 2024. Nevertheless, it’s possible that the mitigation process will end sooner, even before the trial.
It’s not going to end in 2028
As the main patent regarding compressed raw of RED Digital Cinema is supposed to expire in 2028, it will not end there. RED filed another patent granted two weeks ago, titled Video Image Data Processing In Electronic Devices. It seems that this patent tries to address various sensors and devices, and even expand the implementation of the REDCODE RAW. This new patent will expire in 2037. BTW, here’s an excellent educational video that explains the legal saga of the compressed raw:
What does it mean for z9 shooters?
As it may seem, Nikon Z9 users can continue and enjoy Firmware 2.0 and shoot ProRes RAW, and N-RAW with it, at least till January 2024, when the trial is planned to begin. Moreover, there’s a good chance of settlement between RED and Nikon even before. If it goes to trial, the process may even take more time, as it appears to be a very long struggle.
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Should God forbid Nikon lose, it’d only affect Nikon users in the US, so us in EU should hopefully still get firmware with all the functionality enabled. Since US bodies have their own serial number range, it should be easy to modify the firmware to ban (as if everyone in US would update) RAW video in-camera recording only for US bodies.
The Red patents are far from rock solid.
The only company that tried to challenge them convinced Red to abandon the suit.
It widely thought that patenting in camera raw regardless of the technology doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.
Nikon is going to win and free the world from Red’s illegitimate tyranny.
Unfortunately, their patents are pretty solid. If Apple or Sony couldn’t break them (two of the largest companies in the world) then the odds Nikon can do it are slim. But I’m hoping they do. The world of cinema would be so much better off if everyone had access to compressed raw codecs.
Sony and Apple didn’t actually challenge the legality of the red patent on the grounds Nikon is. They challenged it based off the idea that this was common knowledge and obvious progression. They lost because RED actually did innovate on how the footage was bundled for compression. Thus its patent had feet in this area, but where reds patent falls apart is in its filing dates, not its tech. Red publicly sold their cameras more than a year before they filed for their compressed RAW patent while telling people the camera would shoot compressed RAW, and then failed to disclose this when they filed. Those two details in theory should invalidate the patent, because the patent was not filed within 1 year of selling the product publicly. Had Sony, Apple fought this point then there is a high likelyhood Red would have lost.
Nikon N-raw, clips in high saturated colors to posterization and can’t be used professionally, no need for a lawsuit.