[php] Fragen wegen Gif-Bib und Lizenz

[Andreas Otto]

ich habe mir mal den spass erlaubt den hersteller meines web editors in bezug
auf die gif lizenz zu kontakten und bekam auch prompt eine recht interessante
antwort:


----- Original Message -----
From: Customer Support <helpdesk_(at)_mail.sausage.com.au>
To: andreas otto <andreas.otto_(at)_mm4.de>
Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2000 12:30 PM
Subject: Re: Inquiry - HotDog 5


> Hello Andreas,
>
> Thank you for your email.
>
> -------------------------
> regarding to the ongoing discussion about unisys and
> their patent on gifs/lzw algorithm i would like to know if their might
> be any problems by modifying gifs with the imagelab supertool which
> ships with hotdog webmaster suite.
> -------------------------
>
> As Unisys has not obtained a definite ruling on their right to charge
> royalty fees on the usage of GIF files, or licensing fees for
> companies to produce software which uses the algorithms which
> software such as ImageLab, it is for now completely free and legal to
> modify GIF files.
>
> If in the future it becomes neccessary to pay for usage of the GIF
> file format, then I can't imagine that fees and fines will be
> payable on files created or modified before the ruling date, as there
> are millions of people around the world using GIF files and image
> editing programs which use the GIF format. Like the rest of the
> development community however, Sausage Software has no way of knowing
> this for sure.
>
> The most likely outcome of the case is that the existing GIF file
> format will remain completely free. If it doesn't, then I would
> imagine that the PNG file format will quickly become the most
> popular format for WWW graphics. Should that happen Sausage
> Software would of course modify any of it's GIF-creation software
> to support PNG.
>
> For now however the majority of users are carrying on using GIF files
> as normal.
>
> I hope that answers your question. Please do not hesitate to contact
> us again if you require any further assistance.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jarrod
>
> Customer Support
> Sausage Software
>
>
>
>
> Date:          Mon, 24 Jan 2000 05:57:37 -0800
> To:            helpdesk_(at)_sausage.com.au
> From:          andreas.otto_(at)_mm4.de (andreas otto)
> Subject:       Inquiry - HotDog 5
>
> SUBMITTED WITH: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0; Windows NT; DigExt)
> OS: Windows NT 4
> PROGRAM: HotDog 5
> INQUIRY DETAILS: regarding to the ongoing discussion about unisys and their
patent on gifs/lzw
> algorithm i would like to know if their might be any problems by modifying
gifs with the
> imagelab supertool which ships with hotdog webmaster suite.
>
> kind regards,
> andreas
>
> _____________________________________________________



----------
Andreas Otto

NoHo Digital Ltd,
Floor 2, Canberra House,
315 -317 Regent Street
London W1R 7YB

Reception 0171 299 3434
Fax 0171 631 5050
http://www.noho.co.uk