Digital Domain Media Group (DD) generated a lot of buzz in the VFX industry with its announcement, earlier this month, that it was signing up licensees and suing infringers of patents that it claims cover the fundamentals of the 3D conversion process.

Samsung Electronics apparently signed up voluntarily as a licensee, while Prime Focus became a licensee only after being sued by DD. Most recently, Reliance MediaWorks, already a DDMG partner, signed up for a collaboration and licensing deal.

Company CEO John Textor said the patents cover 2D-to-3D processes that involve roto work and horizontal image displacement and transform, which suggests DD is laying claim to very basic VFX techniques and geometric concepts. (One comment on our original story on the matter reads, "Is DD trying to copyright affine transformations?") Despite a perception that DD is coming late to the party, it helps to remember that these patents were originally awarded to In-Three, a 3D technology pioneer that was founded back in 1999 and purchased by DD In 2010. If you want to know exactly what the six patents in question say, follow the links below.

DDMG logged $60,000 in revenue from licensing fees in the fourth quarter of 2011, and $90,000 in the first quarter of 2012 — presumably the first quarter in which the Samsung deal was in place for the duration.