This is not an important point, because we're in agreement about the
the undesirability of using GIF because of the royalties. (I love GIF
-- I was active in GIF89a development, but I am also a member of the
PNG team and a listed co-author of the PNG spec. I am personally
committed to retiring GIF in all my software in favor of PNG as soon
as possible.)
But in the interest of getting the facts straight, I have to say that
your direct Unisys contact is wrong, at lsast according to Unisys's
published information. Here's excerpts from a FAQ on the subject
written by Unisys and posted in LIB 19 of CompuServe's GO GRAPHICS
forum. This is consistent with my own direct communciation with
Unisys's Welch Patent Office.The FAQ is pretty old (January 1995)
but I've been following this closely and have heard of nothing since
to invalidate the quotes below. The whole FAQ is 200 lines which I
thought was too long for this list, so I cut parts of it. If anyone
wants the whole thing I can post it or better email it to cut net
traffic. I think though that I have quoted the most relevant parts
below.
Tim Wegner
QUOTE
From: [email protected] (Richard Marks)
Date: Fri, 6 Jan 1995 22:09:14 GMT
Unisys LZW Patent FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS January 6,
1995
Since we released our statement this morning clarifying the terms of
our LZW patent licensing agreement, we have received ssveral questions
from both the press and the on-line community at large. We thought we
would share with you some of the most frequently asked questions --
and our answers. We hope this may help answer some similar questions
you have.
[snipped out some stuff]
GIF is used extensively on the World Wide Web. What does Unisys
intend to do there?
Unisys in no way wants to discourage end users and developers from
making use of this technology. We intend to license commercial
software developers. However, non-commercial, non-profit products,
including freeware, need not pay license fees. Organizations
introducing a World Wide Web ssrver and home page to the Internet are
not expected to license the technology if they used a third-party
software application to develop their ssrver offering. Only the
commercial third-party developer in that case should sscure a license.
What about Internet browsers?
Again, our focus is on the developers and not on the end user. Also,
our action is primarily focused on for-profit developers. If a
developer intends to make a profit or provide a product for commercial
use, they should negotiate a license from Unisys.
[snipped out more stuff]
What about freeware developers?
Our focus is on commercial, for-profit developers. Freeware is
exempted from licensing fees.
And shareware developers?
Shareware developers that intend to make a profit from their software
should negotiate a license with Unisys. Alternatively, if their
software is intended to access CompuServe only, they might want to
take advantage of CompuServe's relicensing agreement with us.
[snipped out more stuff]
Or via Internet, ssnd E-mail to [email protected], or use a form
available on the Home Page of the Unisys Web Server
(http:\\www.unisys.com) to request follow-up information.
Media contacts: Unisys Public Relations -- Bob O'Leary (215)
986-6413
or Oliver Picher (215)
986-5367