Re: has anyone heard of this new crap?
On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:22:30 -0500, Roberto Sanchez wrote:
> Derrick 'dman' Hudson wrote:
>> | It appears that the video files
>> | do not have to be motion pictures; they can be simple JPEG
>>
>> JPEG is an open standard created jointly by several companies and
>> organizations. I find it highly unlikely that this particular company
>> owns any patents on JPEG methods, and if they did they would have had
>> to enforce them decades ago to realistically maintain any claim of
>> ownership.
>>
>
> You are confusing trademark with patents. Patents can be enforced at
> will. The GIF LZW patent was only enforced by Unisys during the last
> couple it was valid, after GIF had become a de facto standard.
>
> OTOH, trademarks lose value if not agressively defended, hence
> Microsoft going after Lindows (for similarity to Windows).
>
Maybe not in GIF, but Unisys' patent of Terry Welch's LZW was enforced
early on in modems. IIRC, modem manufacturers paid a one time nominal
fee of $10,000 for its use in their products.
--
....................paul
Programming without a hex editor is like watchmaking without a hammer.
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