<CT> Re: Strange things in the screenshot gallery
- From: Erwin Dokter <edokter@xxxxxxx>
- To: calmira_tips@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 01 Apr 2001 13:57:31 +0100
Brian L. Johnson wrote:
>
> On format, I chose JPEG format because of copyright and patent issues
> with GIF format images. As you may have heard, the other year, the
> Unisys corp (the creators of the GIF format) started asserting their
> patent (after what, 10 years...), and started shaking websites down
> thug-style for something like us$5000 per GIF image. In protest, many
> websites went to GIF-free sites using JPEG and PNG images.
Let me clarify some things about usiung GIF images, as there are many
stories going around that are urban myths...
Unisys holds a patent for the compression algorithm that GIF images
utilize. Some years back, they thought they could charge anyone that
'used' their technology. However, they lost big time in courts, for the
reason they can never charge for propriaty work created with their
technology. What they CAN cherge for is the use of their algorithm.
This holds true for EVERY work created with whatever technology was
used. Ie, Borland could NEVER charge me for my work I created using
Delphi, for which Borland holds several patents. They can only charge me
for using their product/technology.
That is why software developers using the GIF compression algorith have
to pay a royalty fee for every 'sold' copy of their software which
contains that algorithm, to Unisys. End users DO NOT have to pay
anything for creating or using GIF images!!! It is time that this urban
myth dies already.
So feel free to use GIF images all you want, you already 'paid' your
right to use them, through your purchase of your favorite image editor.
-- Erwin Dokter
mailto:edokter@xxxxxxx
http://members.home.nl/edokter
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