Re: mplayer / divx
The sperry patent is international.
http://www.cpe.surrey.ac.uk/support/faq/gif_lzw.htm
The funny part is the selfsame stuff that makes GIF viewers non-free is
blithely in gzip. Ah well, consistency has never been a hallmark of
patents WRT non-free.
On Wed, 29 Aug 2001, Hamish Moffatt wrote:
>On Wed, Aug 29, 2001 at 01:02:50AM -0400, Brian Ristuccia wrote:
>> Additionally, it's still unclear if instructions (computer or not)
>> explaining how to perform a patented process are capable of being restricted
>> by a patent. Traditionally, patents have applied only to building/performing
>> the invention, not to writing code or books about how to make/do it. In the
>> past, Debian has allowed source code which explains how to perform patented
>> processes such as LZW encoding to be distributed from non-US.
>
>Isn't that only because those patents (in particular LZW) don't
>apply outside of the US?
>
>
>Hamish
>
--
Sacred cows make the best burgers
Who is John Galt? galt@inconnu.isu.edu, that's who!!!
Reply to: