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<!--#include virtual="/server/header.html" --> |
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<title>Why There Are No GIF files on GNU Web Pages</title> |
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<!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" --> |
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<h2>Why There Are No GIF Files on GNU Web Pages</h2> |
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<p> |
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<strong>While this story is a historical |
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illustration of the danger of software patents, these |
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particular patents are now no longer a concern (see |
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<a href="#venuenote">footnote</a> below). For details of our web site |
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<a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics">policies |
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regarding GIFs</a>, see our <a href="/server/standards/">web |
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guidelines</a>.</strong> |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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There are no GIFs on the GNU web site because of the |
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patents (Unisys and IBM) covering |
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the LZW compression algorithm |
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which is used in making GIF files. These patents make it |
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impossible to have free software to generate proper GIFs. |
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They also apply to the <strong>compress</strong> program, which is why |
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GNU does not use it or its format. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Unisys and IBM both applied for patents in 1983. Unisys (and perhaps |
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IBM) applied for these patents in a number of countries. Of the |
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places whose patent databases we were able to search, the latest |
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expiration date seems to be 1 October 2006. |
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<a name="returnnote" href="#venuenote"><sup>1</sup></a> Until then, |
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anyone who releases a free program for making GIF files |
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is likely to be sued. We don't know any reason to think that the |
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patent owners would lose these lawsuits. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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If we released such a program, Unisys and IBM might think it wiser |
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(for public relations reasons) not to sue a charity like the FSF. |
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They could instead sue the users of the program, including the |
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companies who redistribute GNU software. We feel it would not be |
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responsible behavior for us to set up this situation. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Many people think that Unisys has given permission for distributing |
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free software to make GIF format. Unfortunately that is |
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not what Unisys has actually done. Here is what Unisys actually said |
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about the matter in 1995: |
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</p> |
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|
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<blockquote><p>Unisys does not require licensing, or fees to be paid, for |
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non-commercial, non-profit GIF-based applications, |
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including those for use on the on-line services. Concerning |
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developers of software for the Internet network, the same principle |
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applies. Unisys will not pursue previous inadvertent infringement by |
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developers producing versions of software products for the Internet |
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prior to 1995. The company does not require licensing, or fees to be |
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paid for non-commercial, non-profit offerings on the Internet, |
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including “Freeware”.</p></blockquote> |
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|
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<p> |
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Unfortunately, this doesn't permit |
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<a href="/philosophy/free-sw.html">free software</a> which can be used |
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in a free operating system such as GNU. It also does not |
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permit <em>at all</em> the use of LZW for other purposes |
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such as compression of files. This is why we think it is still best |
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to reject LZW, and switch to alternatives such |
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as <a href="/software/gzip/gzip.html">GNU Gzip</a> |
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and PNG. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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<a href="/philosophy/selling.html">Commercial redistribution of free |
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software</a> is very important, and we want the GNU system as a whole |
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to be redistributed commercially. This means we can't add |
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a GIF-generating program to GNU, not under the Unisys |
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terms. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <a href="http://www.fsf.org">Free Software Foundation</a> is a |
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non-commercial, non-profit organization, so strictly speaking the |
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income from our sales of <a href="http://shop.fsf.org/">CD-ROMs</a> |
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is not “profit”. Perhaps this means we could include |
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a GIF program on our CD-ROM and claim to be acting within |
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the scope of the Unisys permission—or perhaps not. But since we |
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know that other redistributors of GNU would be unable to include it, |
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doing this would not be very useful. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Shortly after Unisys made its announcement, when the net in general |
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was reassured thinking that Unisys had given permission for |
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free GIF-generating software, we wrote to the Unisys |
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legal department asking for clarification of these issues. We did not |
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receive a response. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Even if Unisys really did give permission for free software to |
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generate GIFs, we would still have to deal with the IBM |
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patent. Both the IBM and the Unisys patents cover the same |
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“invention”—the LZW compression |
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algorithm. (This could reflect an error on the part of the US Patent |
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and Trademark Office, which is famous for incompetence and poor |
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judgment.) |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Decoding GIFs is a different issue. The Unisys and IBM |
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patents are both written in such a way that they do not apply to a |
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program which can only uncompress LZW format and cannot |
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compress. Therefore we can and will include support for |
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displaying GIF files in GNU software. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Given this situation, we could still include GIF files in |
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our web pages if we wanted to. Many other people would be happy to |
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generate them for us, and we would not be sued for |
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having GIF files on our server. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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But we feel that if we can't distribute the software to enable people |
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to generate GIF files properly, then we should not have |
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other people run such software for us. Besides, if we can't provide |
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software in GNU to generate GIF files, we have to |
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recommend an alternative. We ourselves should use the alternative |
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that we recommend. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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In 1999, Unisys had the following to say about the issue of their |
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patent: |
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</p> |
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|
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<blockquote><p>Unisys has frequently been asked whether a Unisys |
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license is required in order to use LZW software obtained |
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by downloading from the Internet or from other sources. The answer is |
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simple. In all cases, a written license agreement or statement signed |
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by an authorized Unisys representative is required from Unisys for all |
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use, sale or distribution of any software (including so-called |
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“freeware”) and/or hardware providing LZW |
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conversion capability (for example, downloaded |
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software).</p></blockquote> |
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|
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<p> |
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With this statement, Unisys is trying to take back what they said in |
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1995 when they gave parts of the patent to the public. The legality of |
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such a move is questionable. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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A further issue is that the LZW patents—and |
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software patents in general—are an offense against the freedom |
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of programmers generally, and all programmers need to work together |
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against software patents. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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So even if we could find a solution to enable the free software |
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community to generate GIFs, that isn't really a solution, |
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not for the problem as a whole. The solution is switching to another |
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format and not using GIF any more. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Therefore, we don't use GIF, and we hope you won't use it |
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either. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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It is possible to make non-compressed images that act |
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like GIFs, in that they work with programs that |
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decode GIF format. This can be done without infringing |
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patents. These pseudo-GIFs are useful for some purposes. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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It is also possible to create GIFs using a patent-free |
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run length encoding but this doesn't achieve the compression that one |
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normally expects in a GIF. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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We decided not to use these pseudo-GIFs on our web site |
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because they are not a satisfactory solution to the community's |
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problem. They work, but they are very large. What the web needs is a |
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patent-free compressed format, not large pseudo-GIFs. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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The <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portable_Network_Graphics">PNG |
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format</a> is a patent-free compressed format. We hope it will become |
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widely supported; then we will use it. We do provide PNG versions of |
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most of the <a href="/graphics/graphics.html">images on this server</a>. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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For more information about the GIF patent problems, |
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see <a href="http://www.progfree.org/Patents/Gif/Gif.html">the League for |
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Programming Freedom GIF page</a>. Through that page you |
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can find more information about the <a |
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href="http://endsoftpatents.org/">problem of software patents in |
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general.</a> |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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There is a library called libungif that reads gif files and writes |
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uncompressed gifs to circumvent the Unisys patent. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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<a href="http://burnallgifs.org">http://burnallgifs.org</a> is a |
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web site devoted to discouraging the use of GIF files on |
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the web. |
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</p> |
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|
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<h3>Footnote:</h3> |
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|
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<p><a href="#returnnote" id="venuenote">1.</a> We were able to search |
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the patent databases of the USA, Canada, Japan, and the European |
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Union. The Unisys patent expired on 20 June 2003 in the USA, in Europe |
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it expired on 18 June 2004, in Japan the patent expired on 20 June |
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2004 and in Canada it expired on 7 July 2004. The U.S. IBM patent |
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expired 11 August 2006. The Software Freedom Law Center says that |
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after 1 October 2006, there will be no significant patent claims |
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interfering with employment of the GIF format.</p> |
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|
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</div> |
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|
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<!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" --> |
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|
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<div id="footer"> |
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|
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<p> |
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Please send FSF & GNU inquiries to |
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<a href="mailto:gnu@gnu.org"><em>gnu@gnu.org</em></a>. |
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There are also <a href="/contact/">other ways to contact</a> |
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the FSF. |
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<br /> |
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Please send broken links and other corrections or suggestions to |
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<a href="mailto:webmasters@gnu.org"><em>webmasters@gnu.org</em></a>. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Please see the |
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<a href="/server/standards/README.translations.html">Translations |
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README</a> for information on coordinating and submitting |
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translations of this article. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010 Free |
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Software Foundation, Inc.,</p> |
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<address>51 Franklin St, Fifth Floor, Boston, MA 02110, USA</address> |
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<p>This page is licensed under a <a rel="license" |
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href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/us/">Creative |
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Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 United States License</a>. |
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</p> |
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|
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<p> |
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Updated: |
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<!-- timestamp start --> |
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$Date: 2011/06/19 12:48:03 $ |
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<!-- timestamp end --> |
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</p> |
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</div> |
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|
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<div id="translations"> |
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<h4>Translations of this page</h4> |
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|
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<!-- If you add a new language here, please --> |
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<!-- - /home/www/html/server/standards/README.translations.html --> |
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<!-- Please use W3C normative character entities. --> |
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|
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<ul class="translations-list"> |
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<!-- Catalan --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.ca.html">Català</a> [ca]</li> |
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<!-- German --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.de.html">Deutsch</a> [de]</li> |
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<!-- English --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.html">English</a> [en]</li> |
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<!-- Spanish --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.es.html">Español</a> [es]</li> |
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<!-- French --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.fr.html">Français</a> [fr]</li> |
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<!-- Hebrew --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.he.html">עברית</a> [he]</li> |
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<!-- Japanese --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.ja.html">日本語</a> [ja]</li> |
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<!-- Korean --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.ko.html">한국어</a> [ko]</li> |
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<!-- Polish --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.pl.html">polski</a> [pl]</li> |
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<!-- Romanian --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.ro.html">Română</a> [ro]</li> |
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<!-- Russian --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.ru.html">русский</a> [ru]</li> |
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<!-- Serbian --> |
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<li><a href="/philosophy/gif.sr.html">Српски</a> [sr]</li> |
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</ul> |
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</div> |
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</div> |
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</body> |
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</html> |