Intellectual Ventures (IV), an invention and investment company founded by the former Chief Strategist and Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft, Nathan Myhrvold, today filed a patent infringement complaint against Nikon in the U.S. District Court of Delaware.

The complaint centers around the events that followed IV approaching Nikon in 2008 to negotiate licensing for some of IV's imaging technology patents.

Nikon, according to the complaint, stalled and did not return IV's good-faith efforts to negotiate a business solution. It continued using IV's inventions in 2011, despite attempts by IV to renegotiate.

IV, in its press releases, says, “We have attempted to engage in licensing discussions with Nikon, but those discussions did not progress. Filing a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. District Court of Delaware was the right business decision for us in order to protect the value of our patents.”

The infringing products listed in the complaint include Nikon's Coolpix S3100, S4100 and S4600 cameras, Nikon's Capture NX2 software, Nikon's D3s DSLR camera, Nikon's D3100 camera, and Nikon’s S3100 camera.

IV’s Chief Litigation Counsel Melissa Finocchio stated, “By using our intellectual property rights without a license, companies like Nikon undermine the value of our inventions. Though Intellectual Ventures remains committed to engaging in collaborative agreements with technology companies around the world, we will litigate when necessary to protect our intellectual property rights.”