On Tue, 06 Jan 2004 16:22:30 -0500, Roberto Sanchez wrote: > Derrick 'dman' Hudson wrote: >> | It appears that the video files >> | do not have to be motion pictures; they can be simple JPEG >> >> JPEG is an open standard created jointly by several companies and >> organizations. I find it highly unlikely that this particular company >> owns any patents on JPEG methods, and if they did they would have had >> to enforce them decades ago to realistically maintain any claim of >> ownership. >> > > You are confusing trademark with patents. Patents can be enforced at > will. The GIF LZW patent was only enforced by Unisys during the last > couple it was valid, after GIF had become a de facto standard. > > OTOH, trademarks lose value if not agressively defended, hence > Microsoft going after Lindows (for similarity to Windows). >
Maybe not in GIF, but Unisys' patent of Terry Welch's LZW was enforced early on in modems. IIRC, modem manufacturers paid a one time nominal fee of $10,000 for its use in their products. -- ....................paul Programming without a hex editor is like watchmaking without a hammer. -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
