🚀 go-pugleaf

lasner@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Charles Lasner) writes:

>In article <1992Jul24.152041.28854@panix.com> fnord@panix.com (Cliff Heller) writes:
>>In <1992Jul23.180127.1359@qiclab.scn.rain.com> leonard@qiclab.scn.rain.com (Leonard Erickson) writes:
>>
>>>medic@milton.u.washington.edu (Travis Lauricella) writes:
>>
>>>For what it is worth, The *format* is owned by Compuserve. They just
>>>let folks use it freely. And the standards document says it is pronounced
>>>"jif"...

>Since when does someone own a format?  Are you telling me that if I encode
>a piece of graphics copyright me into .GIF format that Compuserve owns
>my file?

No, they own the 'GIF' or 'Graphics Interchange Format' and its
encoding scheme as a servicemark.  They invented it, they own it.
They just happen to publish the specs and allow people to (freely?)
use it. (It's the NAME that they own, mostly  - the schemes used in
it are basically free in that so many other schemes use the same
methods)

If you make a piece of graphics, you own that, no matter what scheme
you choose to encode it.
-- 
David Lemson                                                 (217) 244-1205
University of Illinois NeXT Campus Consultant  / CCSO NeXT Lab System Admin
Internet : lemson@uiuc.edu                 UUCP :...!uiucuxc!uiucux1!lemson 
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