Sensio Obtains A First Key Patent In The United States

[metalqueen]

MTBS received this press release from Sensio today.


SENSIO OBTAINS A FIRST KEY PATENT IN THE UNITED STATES FOR ITS SENSIO® 3D TECHNOLOGY

MONTREAL, QC, February 24, 2009 – SENSIO Technologies inc. (“SENSIO”) TSX Venture Exchange Inc.: SIO), inventor of the SENSIO® 3D technology, announces that it has been granted its first main patent for its distribution and formatting technology of stereoscopic contents on different 2D or 3D screens. This patent covers the method that has been developed and marketed by SENSIO for many years and which allows the distribution of 3D content over conventional 2D distribution channels.

“The acquisition of this first patent is a major event in our company’s history, because it confirms the legitimacy and solidity of our intellectual property towards studios and manufacturers and supports our licensed business sales model. Going forward, our customers and partners wishing to use the SENSIO® 3D technology will be able to move ahead by knowing that they can rely on a solid basis and on a clearly defined intellectual property, which puts us in a favorable position vis-à-vis our competitors. With this patent in hand and the recently announced developments, we believe that we have significantly increased our chances to become the 3D distribution standard for the consumer market”, said Nicholas Routhier, SENSIO’s President and CEO.

This patent, delivered by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”), gives SENSIO the exclusive operating rights for its compression and decompression method on the U.S. territory. As delivered, this patent extends beyond the home theatre market and notably to the professional, personal computer and mobile telephony markets. It takes effect as of the date of the filing of the application in 2003, and remains in force for a period of twenty years. The same patent was also filed in China, Europe, Japan, India and Canada. The acceptance of our patent by the USPTO will help us with our current steps and we remain confident that we will obtain the certification in these countries”, explained Nicholas Routhier.

Several other patents to come

Following the patent application filing which has just been approved, a patent of addition was filed in 2004 covering namely different applications of the technology. As the main patent gives a certain degree of latitude, several patents of addition may be added over time so as to protect the technology’s evolutionary aspects and thus ensure its competitiveness. As well, three other patent applications were filed during the last six months, and they are currently following the normal certification procedure. ‘‘As a technological company, our intellectual property is our greatest asset and we have adopted an approach aimed at increasing our intellectual property portfolio in order to stay at the forefront and increase the value of our company. The acquisition of our first patent is perceived as an important approval of our approach and we have every confidence in our future patents’’, added Mr. Étienne Fortin, Chief Technological Officer at SENSIO.

About SENSIO

Founded in 1999, SENSIO, headquartered in Montreal, Canada, develops and markets forward-looking stereoscopic technologies designed to offer the most advanced and immersive cinematographic experience available. Its flagship technology, SENSIO®3D, allows the high-quality distribution of 3D content through conventional 2D channels and playback on any display device, including plasma TVs, HDTV and glass-free 3D displays. Working with major Hollywood studios and large format 3D film producers, SENSIO has built up one of the world's largest libraries of 3D movies for the home entertainment market.

SENSIO® is a trademark of SENSIO Technologies Inc.

[AWoods]

I wasn't able to find a recently granted patent from Sensio listed on the USPTO site, but I did find two Patent Applications. Perhaps the first of these (2003) is the one that was recently granted.

[APPLICATION] Process and system for encoding and playback of stereoscopic video sequences
US Pat. 10/409,073 - Filed Apr 9, 2003
Inventors: Nicholas Routhier, St-Lambert (CA); ...
http://www.google.com/patents?id=4vOFAAAAEBAJ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[APPLICATION] Apparatus for processing a stereoscopic image stream
US Pat. 10960058 - Filed Oct 8, 2004
Inventors: Nicholas Routhier, St-Lambert (CA); Pierre-Hugues Routhier, Varennes (CA); Daniel Malouin, ...
http://www.google.com/patents?id=YEiUAAAAEBAJ" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Cheers,
Andrew.