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November 1999
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1999.11.30 23:07 "Re: libtiff 3.5.3 release.", by Tom Lane
Izumi Ohzawa <izumi@pinoko.berkeley.edu> writes: > 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? Unisys' view is perfectly clear: they claim that decompression-only software *is* covered by the patent. (They have a webpage giving their version of reality at www.unisys.com, check there for an exact quote.) There are a number of qualified people who think that Unisys' interpretation wouldn't hold up in court, and that a court would say that decompression-only software isn't covered. But AFAIK there's been no test case to find out. Do you want to be the test case? > 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. Yup. That's why I'm not shipping either LZW compression or decompression code in libjpeg these days. It was a relatively painless decision for me, because GIF-reading was never a critical part of libjpeg, but I can see that dropping the LZW decompressor would be crippling for libtiff :-(. Don't have any good advice... regards, tom lane organizer, Independent JPEG Group