>   Why is it so important that they have licensed GIF? If you live in a
country
> where (idiotic) program patents can be made and unisys has patented LZW
> there, you'll have to get the license for yourself anyways, independent of
> whether imagemagick has the license or not.

The premise for your initial question does not seem to be the case.

The UniSys patent apparently applies only to any software which produces
GIFs using the LZW compression algorythm.  Put concisely, if the software
you are manufacturing  is distributed with LZW enabled, you must license it.
USERS of such software can apparently create GIF images for distribution
with no further need for fees.

The ImageMagik creators, latest postings on their site suggest, are
distributing their package with LZW compression for GIF disabled (making a
30K fike 500K!).   LZW is still apparently in their source code, and one can
enable it in the compilation, but the resultant program is legally subject
to licensing requirements.  For example, if I have a webserver which serves
up on-the-fly GIF images using my compilation of ImageMagik, I am infringing
on the LZW patent.

However annoying the patenting of the trivial and obvious (LZW may or may
not be 'obvious'- it's efficacy is hardly trivial), our annoyance does not
insulate us from legal liability.   So I'm STILL looking for a licensed GIF
engine for Linux.

___

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