Re: imagemagick and imagemagick-nonfree issue

[Richard Braakman <dark@xs4all.nl>]

Chris Lawrence wrote:
> My understanding (probably flawed) is that the LZW patent only covers
> compression, not decompression.  So reading GIFs is OK, just not
> writing them (at least, not unless you use the "uncompressed GIF"
> hack).  This is why gzip can legally uncompress .Z (Unix compressed)
> archives.

This is true.

> Another of my understandings is that software patents (and patents in
> general) only apply if they are enforced by the patenter consistently;
> Unisys's distinct lack of consistent enforcement may undermine the
> legal status of their patent, especially in a jury trial (your 8th
> Amendment rights at work).

I don't know if Unisys is being consistent, but they did issue a
general license for using the algorithm in free-of-charge code.
So we're not at risk as long as we keep it in non-free.  I'm sorry,
I don't have a reference for that license.

Richard Braakman