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November 1999
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1999.11.30 22:53 "Re: libtiff 3.5.3 release.", by Izumi Ohzawa
On Tue, 30 Nov 1999, you wrote: > Version 3.5.3 is now available at http://www.libtiff.org/ and > ftp://ftp.onshore.com/. > > The ChangeLog will follow, but please note the most important change: > LZW compression has been removed. > LZW decompression is unchanged. Thank you for this change. I always wondered how LIBTIFF could get by this long. Now, I need a solid reference that LZW decompression is not covered by the LZW patent. Nothing I have read, except for opinions or second-hand quotes at various forums, clearly indicates that decompression is not part of the patent. Especially, does anyone have written views from the Unisys itself on this? Xpdf (PDF viewer) author goes to the trouble of not using LZW decompression in Xpdf itself, but exec's system's "uncompress" to do the decompression. I believe he must have been a target of "Unisys patent enforcement." Regardless of what court may or may not rule in the end, that doesn't matter. Most of us here, I think, just don't want to hear from Unisys counsels, ever. Izumi