From: Jonathan Turkanis (technews_at_[hidden])
Date: 2004-10-03 13:28:13
"Rene Rivera" <grafik.list_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
news:41603DCE.3030808_at_redshift-software.com...
> Jonathan Turkanis wrote:
> > "Stefan Seefeld" <seefeld_at_[hidden]> wrote in message
> > news:41602D55.801_at_sympatico.ca...
> >
> >>what about taking the occasion and changing to the not-so-patent-ridden
> >>png format ?
> >
> > I remember reading recently that the patent finally expired earlier this
year.
> > Does anyone know if that's correct?
>
> The LZW patent in question expired in the US this Summer. But the patent
> only applies to generation of GIFs, not reading. So it's only the one
> person who created the GIF that would have needed a license. There are
> still other countries out there that have the patent active though.
Thanks for clarifying this. I was hoping the expiration of the LZW patent meant
I could add LZW compression to the iostreams library. To you have more info on
which other countries have issued patents on this algorithm which have yet to
expire?
Jonathan