How special. Lots of products and vendors have been avoiding the GIF format for years because of the Unisys LZW patents. Some sites, like gnu.org, do not use GIF in principal (see http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/gif.html).
Now Forgent has filed suit against 31 companies (including Macromedia) claiming a patent on the compression used in JPEG. (Story at http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/04/23/HNforgentsues_1.html and elsewhere).
So, we can all switch to PNG, or …
Unisys’ US patent expired back in June 2003, and the Canadian, British, French, German, and Japanese patents will all expire by July of this year. So, let this drag out for a few months and then we can all start switching back! Nice. I’m going to have to thank Forgent for impeccable timing.
First GIF, Now JPEG
3 responses to “First GIF, Now JPEG”
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Just you wait, I know I’ve got that patent for letters a, g, and m lying around here somewhere. When I find it you’re all going to pay.
I wonder if slashdot has patented the use of the image of a fork, knife, and spoon with the term "patent pending" stenciled over them to poke fun at the obvious prior-art nature of so many patents? -
http://wheresthebeef.co.uk/fAct/
TEH TRUTH ABOUT WARE-Z! -
In regards to patents the patent holder has like 5-7 years after the patent expires to file suit (don’t remember exact time). So, Forgent can do this for a while.
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