🚀 go-pugleaf

ObDisclaimer:  I speak for myself and in no way, manner, shape, or
form speak for the company.  I am not a lawyer, but part of my
schooling included patents, particulary of the software variety.

Michael I Bushnell (mib@geech.gnu.ai.mit.edu) wrote:
: In article <3eq59j$s94@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com> perew@kaiwan009.kaiwan.com (Mark Perew) writes:

:    There is no such effect.  Unisys has already announced that
:    existing applications will not be require a license for using LZW.
:    The browser you use today, as I understand it, is okay to use after
:    January 10.  So are any other tools that use GIF.  New applications
:    (and I would expect, new versions of the existing applications)
:    would need a license.  That license is an issue between the
:    developper and Compuserve or the developper and Unisys.  End users
:    need not be affected.

: No, that is *NOT* what Unisys said.

: Unisys said that they would not prosecute for infrigements of their
: patent prior to January 10, 1995.  They did *not* refer to programs;
: they refered specifically to infringements.

: Every time a user runs the `compress' program, they are violating
: Unisys's patent.  Unisys has said they won't sue you for having run it
: in the past, but they have *not* said anything to block them from
: suing you in the future for future uses of compress.

Wrong.  That isn't how patents work.  The person who WROTE the
compress program is the one violating the Unisys patent, not the USER
of the program.  Therefore, anything that was WRITTEN to perform LZW
compression/decompression before January 10 is ok.

Think of it this way.  If someone had patented a particular method for
building cars, and another company used that exact same method for
making cars, then would it be the manufacturer or the people who
bought the cars who would be infringing on the patent?  It obviously
would be the manufacturer

: Moreover, Unisys, in claiming that the patent covers decompression
: (according to another poster's conversation with the Unisys legal
: staff), goes beyond the actual claims of the patent.  The FSF's
: lawyers have concluded that the patent does *not* cover decompression
: *at*all*, so your browser wouldn't be affected *no*matter*what*.

Wrong based on the above information..

: The amount of misinformation, official or not, coming out of Unisys is
: appalling.

The lack of understanding and of incorrect "facts" floating around The
Net is scary as well.  Of course, this is nothing new... ;)

: I would urge people to take just about everything they say
: with a very large grain of salt.

Always good advice..

: Michael I. Bushnell	    |  	

--
Matt Smith  -  msmith@unislc.slc.unisys.com
http://www.cs.utah.edu/~msmith/home.html
"Don't count your weasels before they pop dink!" -- The Tick