Bob Proulx wrote:
Mike McCarty wrote:They why was there a big flap when Unisys restricted use of GIF?Unisys held a patent covering LZW compression. Unisys did not create the GIF format. The GIF format was created by CompuServe. Neither
[...]
Thanks for the reply. I am aware of all you state here.
You did not address my comment. The fact that a format is disclosed
does not mean that the holders of the design are not able to restrict
its use.
Adobe also makes claims to the right to prevent the use of PDF, but
allow use. For example
http://www.ietf.org/ietf/IPR/adobe-ipr-draft-zilles-pdf.txt
In particular, this wording:
Accordingly, Adobe gives anyone copyright permission,
subject to the conditions stated below, to:
* Prepare files whose content conforms to the Portable Document
Format
AFAICT the last lzw patent has expired. At this time there is no restriction on using either gif or compress however IANAL.
That is also my impression.
Mike
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