Re: lzw code patent

2003-03-07 Thread David Turner
On Thu, 2003-03-06 at 18:52, Drew Scott Daniels wrote: I'm cc'ing debian-legal for the legal part of this discussion. LZW was a patented algorithm which was included in Unix's compress and some versions of the gif file format. There may not be reason to exclude lzw and related code as the

lzw code patent

2003-03-06 Thread Drew Scott Daniels
I'm cc'ing debian-legal for the legal part of this discussion. LZW was a patented algorithm which was included in Unix's compress and some versions of the gif file format. There may not be reason to exclude lzw and related code as the LZW patent is running out.

Re: lzw code patent

2003-03-06 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Drew Scott Daniels [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: LZW was a patented algorithm which was included in Unix's compress and some versions of the gif file format. Minor history. Unix had compact, which used Huffman compaction. Compress came along later, and the main force behind it was Usenet. I

Re: lzw code patent

2003-03-06 Thread Thomas Bushnell, BSG
Drew Scott Daniels [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: I also am curious as to whether Unisys can collect royalties after their patent runs out. I suspect this may be illegal, or at least immoral. They can collect fees from anyone who has contracted to pay them fees. But once the patent runs out, it