1999.06.15 00:00 "patents", by Andreas R. Kleinert
In Europe, there's a discussion about (future introduction of) software patents going on:
http://www.heise.de/tp/deutsch/inhalt/te/2911/1.html (mostly german)
and http://www.freepatents.org (english)
It's somehow related to image file formats (LZW, various JPEG derivates) and thus might be interesting for some of the readers here.
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ARK