On Mon, 7 Oct 2002 01:31:04 +0200
Oded Arbel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This is unlike the GIF issue where Unisys wants you to buy a license if your
> GIFs were not created by a licensed software - even if the files were not
> created by you.
Licensing terms may be modified at a moments notice. The GIF issue is the
exact example for this:
1. At the beggining of the 90's (IIRC) compuserve started to hunt
software firms for creating GIF software (they had some patent
on the GIF format).
2. The companies *chickened* and paid (they must have thought it
would solve the problem).
3. By the end of the 90's Unisys started attacking *users* of GIF
because they hold a patent for the compression algorithm used
in GIF.
Moral: There is no "safe harbour" from software patents. Even if you pay
today.... tomorrow is a new day.... new company... new claims.
So, as several list members pointed out, until the patent laws are fixed
the only viable alternative is to avoid what we can:
GIF ---> burn ---> PNG
MP3 ---> burn ---> OGG
MPEG-2 ---> maybe RealNetwork new open source technology??? who knows?
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Oron Peled Voice/Fax: +972-4-8228492
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He who sacrifices functionality for ease of use Loses both and
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