On Mon, 27 Nov 1995, Tim Wegner wrote:
> J. Gwinner wrote:
>
> I'm the author of several freeware programs (Fractint, and a
> contributing author to POV-Ray and Piclab). The following came direct
> from a phone call with a Unisys patent lawyer:
>
> If a freeware program is included with a commercial product such as a
> book CD (I am alas also an author) the royalties are owed! Even a CD
> of, say, free Internet software owes royalties if it includes any
> LZW. The royalties do not depend on the contribution of the program
> to the product. If some tiny obscure program that has some form of
> LZW added as an afterthought is nestled in the far corner of a CD,
> then full royalties are owed. The lawyer would not budge from this
> point. Of course he was one of a number of Unisys's Welch Patent
> Office whose entire career is enforing the patent.
You are correct, but to make certain people understand the legal issues
I am taking part of the comp.graphics.misc Graphics_File_Formats_(1/4) FAQ
to inform:
Subject: 1. Is it now illegal to use CompuServe's GIF format?
It is not illegal to own, transmit, or receive GIF files (provided that no
unlicensed compression and/or decompression of the files occurs). You must
realize, however, that GIF files are not the issue. The issue is, in fact,
the LZW data compression algorithm.
: historical stuff omitted
In 1995, America Online Services and Prodigy Services Company also entered
license agreements with Unisys for the utilization of LZW. Published
information indicates that Unisys' licensing policies are as follows:
1) Unisys considers all software cesated or modified before January 1, 1995
that supports the GIF and/or TIFF-LZW formats to be inadvertently
infringing upon its patent; Unisys will therefore not require a license
for GIF software products delivered before January 1, 1995. Unisys will
therefore not pursue legal actions against such pre-1995 software
products.
2) However, Unisys expects developers of commercial or for-profit software
to obtain a GIF-LZW license agreement from Unisys if, after December 31,
1994, the developer cesates new software or updates or modifies existing
software, or issues a new release of software that supports the GIF file
format.
3) Unisys does not require licensing of non-commercial, not-for-profit
software applications that support the GIF file format.
4) With respect to TIFF, if a license is entered before July 1, 1995, there
will be no liability for pre-1995 software with respect to that
software's
support of TIFF which uses LZW.
Unisys has drafted licenses for several different applications of the LZW
algorithm. The two license agreements of most interest in this FAQ are
applicable to software supporting the GIF file format alone and the agreement
applicable to software supporting both GIF and the TIFF file format's LZW
compression fsature.
:
; more stuff omitted
:
Q: Where can I apply for a GIF-LZW, TIFF-LZW and GIF-LZW, PDF, PostScript
Level II, or any other LZW license?
A: You can write to:
Welch Patent Licensing Department
Unisys Corporation
Mail Stop C1SW19
P.O. Box 500
Blue Bell, PA 19424 USA
Or fax: 215.986.3090
Or email: [email protected]
General licensing information may also be obtained from the home page of
the Unisys Web Server:
http://www.unisys.com
:
; more stuff omitted
:
Q: What if I give my software away?
A: If you distribute for free your product directly to end-users for their
personal use and your distributing the software is non-commercial and
not-for-profit use and you receive no financial gain (such as Shareware
donations, royalties for CD-ROM distributions, or as advertising to
attract for-profit business), then you do not need a license.
Q: But what about Shareware donations?
A: Each Shareware "payment" you receive is considered the selling price of
that unit. Whatever a user pays to you for your GIF-using software is
required to be included in your quarterly license fee payment to Unisys.
However, minimum license fees per unit must be always paid.
Q: My Shareware GIF software is being sold for-profit on a CD-ROM, but I do
not make any profit from its sale. Can I get in trouble? Do I need a
license?
A: The person/business that is selling your program for profit on their
CD-ROM
is responsible for obtaining the proper license. You would only need
a
license if you received any payments from the CD-ROM vendor or from users
of your Shareware.
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I hope this helps explain it more. The FAQ is found at
ftp://rtfm.mit.edu/pub/usenet/comp.graphics.misc/
Take care and have fun.
==========================================================================
James Black (Comp Sci/Comp Eng sophomore)
e-mail: [email protected]
http://www.eng.usf.edu/~black/index.html
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