Re: [patch] Removal of GIF support
Olivier Galibert <galibert(a)pobox.com> writes:
On Tue, Jul 21, 1998 at 02:26:32PM -0700, Kevin Oberman wrote:
> Anybody have the patent number and/or the date of expiration? It's
> been around for quite a while.
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html
UniSys has changed their tune at some point in the not-so-distant
past. The language RMS quotes about use for GIF is no longer part of
their documentation on GIF/LZW (apparently it disappeared late '96)
and current legal-flacks deny it ever existed.
Both Unisys and IBM applied for their patents in 1983, which
means
they will now expire in the year 2003. Until then, anyone who releases
a free program for making GIF files is likely to be sued. We don't
know any reason to think that the patent owners would lose these
lawsuits.
Agreed, where it regards compression. The problem is that UniSys is
hassling people who do decoding only now as well, and while I think
that is unenforceable and wrong, I can't afford to 'buy enough law' to
prove that.
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