>Well getting a license from Unisys for the GIF Format can be quite

>expensive.

>I wanted to incorporate an animated GIF (logo of my company) in a VB Program

>using the LeadTools OCX. I contacted Unisys and they told me that I would

>have to pay upfront US$ 1500.00 for the first 100 copies or so and then for

>each copy send out I 'd have to pay US$ 17.00.

>Quite a stiff pricetag.

>So I switched for GIF to JPG and PNG......

>

>

you mean the LeadTools OCX doesn't already include the GIF license??!?

Btw, its not actually GIF that you are licensing, its LZ compression which GIF

is based on. The GIF format itself is the property of Compuserve whom licensed

it for free until Unisys discovered they had the LZ patent in their portfolio (I

believe it was originally Burroughs).

-jrp

$25 library that supports GIF, PNG, TIFF, JPG and othhers. LZW is only

supported for GIF decompression. I'm currently using the package in a

cataloging utility. Plus, he links too free source code for most of the

code that he based his libraries on. I'd recommend this alterative to the

pricey LeadTools. Plus, it's just a single DLL or can static link. He also

has ann interesting story about his conversations about licensing with UNISYS

(I guesss they want royalties and some rediculous licensing fee).

rm

> Dan Rhea wrote in message ...

> >Hi Mike,

> >

> >I can't speak for Shareware authors, but our company converted to PNG for

> >Windows and Mac and PCX for DOS. On the Windows front we opted for

> Leadtools

> >10.1 to display our graphics. It has worked well since PNG is non-lossy

> >compression and compresses better than GIF (its standard is also growing to

> >support just about everything that GIF does).

>

> I'm writing essentially an authoring tool, and I need to be able to import

> multiple file formats, and of course GIFs and TIFFs are both still quite

> common. I use Leadtools as well (10.1 didn't work when I upgraded from

> 10.0), although I wish I hadn't. It's way overkill for what I want, and

> like all complicated software, is buggy.

>

> >Here a good question... If your app launches a web browser with a URL that

> >shows a GIF file, do you have pay Unisys? <grin>

>

> Hmm, I could in fact do that, or launch the built-in Windows image editor

> and have it save it out as BMP. In case anyone is wondering, Unisys says

> the starting fee for licensing is about $2400, which is an advance against

> royalties. It's too bad PNG didn't support animation from the start; GIF

> might have been history.

>

> ---Mike

>

>

Rob Miller

application: angif 1.0.0beta3

license: GPL

category: Development/Libraries

urgency: low

description:

ANGIF is a C library to generate GIF format output. It can generate

animated GIFs or true-color (24-bit) GIFs (using both at the same time,

however, does not display properly on common browsers). ANGIF is

completely LZW-free. There is no code implementing the patented LZW

algorithm. That also means there is no compression and the files will

actually be larger than a raw file with the same image by about 13% to

16% more. Command line level test programs are included. This is a

quick rough-cut beta version with documentation only in the source code

(the source code actually is commented).

Changes:

Correction of a bug in true-color partitioning where some images with a

size N*16+1 would result in a recursion stack overflow due to an

incorrect size comparison.

>OK, so how do individuals stand?

Maybe you should yourself read the links you've given?

>

>Can Demon please comment...

>

<QUOTE>

In the meantime, Unisys's actions are perfectly legal under US law ...

</QUOTE>

and to put the above in context....

<QUOTE>

The League for Programming Freedom is working to fix the US patent

system to harmonize it with those of other, more sensible, countries.

[aka United Kingdom]

</QUOTE>

>

>or

>

Please, if you're going to quote links - quote them properly (its quite

easy to cut'n'paste). Here's the correct link...

and again, to put it in perspective, here's a couple of quotes from this

piece:

<QUOTE>

So if you create or distribute software that uses LZW compression

technology in any way, you must deal with the ramifications of the

Unisys patent.

</QUOTE>

Ask yourself... are you creating or distributing software that uses LZW

compression? Unless you are writing (or selling) image editing software,

my reading is that this doesn't apply to you.

>

>or

>

And this is so obviously leverage the writers/distributors of image

editing software, that I imagine that it very unlikely that Unisys would

ever consider taking action against a *user*. The bottom line (in their

own words) is:

Additionally, this information should not be considered as legally

obligating Unisys .......... or with regard to the interpretation of any

license agreements.

>

>

>Just read it....

>

>What I really want to know is whether Demon have a license to use GIF -

>as a service provider - thus, by inference, Demon customers are

>protected - or do individual customers have to spend $5000.00 just to

>show GIF's in case Unisys finds itself short of cash and decides to call

>in the bailiffs?

I'd suggest you re-read your references, since AFAIK Demon don't

distribute anything that might be construed as violating patents (since

Unisys themselves say that Microsoft have a licence - who BTW

distribute Internet Explorer via Demon) - and I'd be interested in how

you interpret any requirements on *Demon customers*?

--

The League for Programming Freedom are organizing a

"Burn All GIFs" day, November 5th.

Oversimplifying, they're irritated because Unisys has a

patent on the LZW compression used, and is demanding

royalities on any GIFs created by tools which did not

have a Unisys license.

There are tools to covert GIFs to the open PNG format.

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