Re: Latest UNISYS LZW patent nonsense -- $5,000 for every web site
On 25 Aug 1999, Ben Gertzfield wrote:
> Well, UNISYS is up to it again. They want $5,000 (count 'em: five
> THOUSAND DOLLARS) from *every* web site that uses GIFs, TIFFs, or PDF
> files with LZW compression.
>
> And that $5,000 only covers two servers at your site, so you'd better
> stock up on those licenses now!
>
> http://corp2.unisys.com/LeadStory/lzw-license.html
Check this out, from the Unisys license FAQ:
Unisys has frequently been asked whether a Unisys license is required
in order to use LZW software obtained by downloading from the
Internet or from other sources. The answer is simple. In all cases, a
written license agreement or statement signed by an authorized Unisys
representative is required from Unisys for all use, sale or
distribution of any software (including so-called "freeware") and/or
hardware providing LZW conversion capability (for example, downloaded
software used for creating/displaying GIF images). In certain cases,
no license fees may be required, but this needs to be evidenced by a
written agreement or written statement signed by an authorized Unisys
representative.
It appears that the issue is much larger than just webservers. Unisys
wants to go after webservers because they are visible. Maybe we should
drive them nuts trying to find out if we need end-user licenses for
convert, imagemagick, gimp, xv, xfig, etc. It seems like a couple hundred
thousand requests might make them rethink their policy. It's going to
cost far more to enforce a "no license fees" license than they'll make off
of the other licenses.
The other part of this that is really appalling is that it's a software
patent, not a copyright issue. I thought that software patents were for
the most part passe.
I ran this:
dpkg -S \.gif | awk '{print $1}' | sort -u | wc -l
on my slink system to find 38 packages that contain GIFs. :(
Last point. What about www.debian.org? Do we need to take some steps to protect
ourselves? Can we just convert everything to JPEG?
tony@mancill.com | When you look into the abyss
http://www.debian.org | The abyss also looks into you...
| (Nietschze)
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