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List:       kde-core-devel
Subject:    Re: GIF write support
From:       "Dirk A . Mueller" <mueller () kde ! org>
Date:       2000-04-06 0:21:10
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On Mit, 05 Apr 2000, mosfet wrote:

> Okay, well how serious is this threat and how much of it is reactionary?

I don't remember exactly (better ask the distributors, like SuSE who
completely dropped libgif and all depending apps and replaced it with
libungif afaik), so if you need a legal answer better read the unisys
patent FAQ yourself. 

I've read a Unisys FAQ somewhen and from what I remember, they only care if
.gif's are created for public / commercial reusage (like a webpage with a
banner) with a program that has no Unisys license. Using i.e. a Microsoft
product is fine as Microsoft has licensed the algorithm for all their
products. 

They said however that they give away licenses to "free" programs. IIRC Gimp
once tried to get one and they refused because it uses libgif rather than
implementing it directly. Free libraries cannot get a free license from
Unisys or something like that was the reason. 

> Literally Hundreds of applications include GIF support with no
> interaction with UniSys. Has any been forced to remove them?

There have been several (I remember two) legal activities from Unisys
against web administrators who had .gif's on their pages, yes. However IIRC
the trick was that Unisys can't proof that the file has been generated using
a program that has no gif license (unless there is the "created with
gimp" comment in it ;-) ). So as long as the webadmin claims that he in
fact used some program he has installed with a license to create them, like
Windows crappy paintbrush program, they didn't need to pay. But we can't do
it that way in KDE ;-)

So in general it depends on if the author is a license holder or not. All
"propietary" programs have no problem with it, because they usually own a
license already. 

Dirk

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