E-Data Corporation v Getty Images Inc & Anor

Colin Birss and Geoffrey Pritchard (instructed by Howrey LLP) for the Claimant John Baldwin Q.C. and Brian Nicholson (instructed by Willoughby & Partners) for the Getty Defendants John Baldwin Q.C. and Robert Onslow (instructed by Dorsey & Whitney) for the Corbis Defendants Hearing dates: 18-21, 25-26 April 2005 ____________________

Finally, it acknowledges (at column 4 lines 40-58) the disclosure of European Patent Application No. 0 082 077, which I was informed corresponds to one of the items of prior art relied upon the Defendants in this case, namely United States Patent No. 4,499,568 ("Gremillet").

i) The scale of the computer industry was already extremely large by 1985. Many different types of business were making use of computers. It was and had since the 1970s been clear that practically all kinds of information could usefully be stored digitally and processed by computers.

ii) Mainframe computers, minicomputers and microcomputers were all well established. Microcomputers available by 1985 included the IBM PC, Apple II and Apple Macintosh and some microcomputers included hard disk storage facilities.

iii) Some industries, such as travel agencies and retail banks, were deploying computers over a wide geographical area. For example, automated teller machines ("ATMs") were well established. These involved remote ATMs communicating with a central computer over telecommunications links. ATMs sent requests from customers to the central computer and the central computer responded by authorizing transactions.