Correspondence with Unisys on LZW patent licensing
grunes
software handling TIFF and GIF images, or to develope their own. I
will pass on some correspondence I have had with Unisys, that owns the
patent. Ordinarally private correspondence should be kept private, but
I take this to have come from their licencing department, and to
represent their normal policy.
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Date:Tue, 8 Apr 2003 06:40:03 -0700 (PDT)
From:"Mitch Grunes" <gru...@yahoo.com> | This is spam | Add to Address
Book
Subject:Request for information on LZW licensing
To:LZW_...@UNISYS.COM
Your site
http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/lzw
indicates that
"Currently applicable information as to Unisys licensing policies for
products
using LZW (GIF, TIFF-LZW, PostScript, Portable Document Format (PDF),
V.42bis,
etc.) can be obtained by contacting the following...
LZW_...@UNISYS.COM."
If you have a standard package of information regarding this, I
request that
information.
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The reply:
From:cheryl....@unisys.com
To:"Mitch Grunes" <gru...@yahoo.com>
Date:Tue, 8 Apr 2003 10:28:32 -0400
Subject: Re: Request for information on LZW licensing
(See attached file: _Questionnaire.doc)
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That attached file had fancy formatting, but looked something like:
LZW Licensing Questionnaire
General information regarding licensing is available on our Website
at. http://www.unisys.com/about__unisys/lzw/
In order to send you the proper license agreement, please provide us
with the following information:
1. What form of LZW you will be using, (i.e., GIF, TIFF, PostScript-2,
PDF or a proprietary form of LZW type)?
2. On what type of computer will the application be running? E.g., a
PC, MAC, workstation, server or web server.
3. Describe the primary overall functions of the application(s) you
are developing.
4. Will the software be a toolkit or other type of software intended
for development purposes?
5. If you require a Unisys license in order to obtain unlocking of GIF
or any other LZW capability in software you obtained from a software
vendor (or other third party), please identify this vendor (or third
party) and the particular software which needs to be unlocked (include
software serial number).
6. Is the application(s) for your company or your client company?s
internal use?
If so, please answer the following questions:
How many computers will run the application?
How many additional computers will have access to the application via
a LAN or other network connection?
Describe the company's business and how the application is used in
that business.
If the product is being developed for a specific client company,
please identify the client company.
7. Is the application(s) related to the Internet?
If so, please describe how the application is used, e.g., is it used
for implementing an Intranet, or for electronic commerce, or for
providing a subscription or free service, or as a billboard for
advertising your company?s products/information or another company?s
products/services.
Will any paid advertisements appear on the site? Will anything be sold
on the site?
8. Will the software be sold to end users such as OEMs, VAR?s or
consumers?
If so, please answer the following questions:
What types of customers will receive the software?
Is it to be sold or distributed to others as part of a software
application? If so, describe the application.
Please list all countries of distribution, and method of distribution,
e.g., via the Internet or on a disk.
Please also provide at least a general indication of your pricing and
yearly volume.
9. Will the application be bundled with any hardware or other
software?
If so, please describe this bundled hardware and/or software.
10. Please provide the name, address, phone and fax numbers, and web
site address for your company.
Company Name:
Primary Contact:
Street Address:
City/State/County/Zip:
Phone:
Fax:
Web URL:
Contact e-mail address:
11. Is your organization a governmental entity (e.g. federal, state or
city government or agency thereof) or an educational institution
(e.g., state or private university)?
12. Is your company a division or subsidiary of another company?
If so, please identify the parent company.
PLEASE DO NOT SEND US ANY INFORMATION WHICH IS CONFIDENTIAL OR
PROPRIETARY TO YOUR COMPANY.
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That wasn't quite what I wanted, so I sent:
Date:Thu, 10 Apr 2003 08:41:42 -0700 (PDT)
From:"Mitch Grunes" <gru...@yahoo.com> | This is spam | Add to Address
Book
Subject:Re: Request for information on LZW licensing
To:cheryl....@unisys.com
I guess my question wasn't specific enough. I am not seeking to
license a
product.
DO I need a license from you to legitimately use other people's free
software
and shareware, specifically:
xv (http://www.trilon.com/xv)
ImageMagick (http://www.imagemagick.org/www/FAQ.html)
PaintShopPro (http://paintshoppro.com)
Adobe Acrobat Reader
(http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html)
Is there a web page with this kind of specific info? (I'm sure many
users
would find it helpful, and software providers would be more likely to
become
legit if they saw other major providers were doing so.)
If not, could you provide the info yourself?
Thanks.
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The reply:
From:"Tartler, Cheryl D." <Cheryl....@unisys.com> | This is spam |
Add to Address Book
To:"'Mitch Grunes'" <gru...@yahoo.com>
Subject:RE: Request for information on LZW licensing
Date:Thu, 10 Apr 2003 16:22:03 -0400
Yes, you need a license to use freeware. Regarding shareware, it
depends
whether the author has a license with Unisys and the terms of the
license.
Regarding the specific products, you should contact the
developer/distributor regarding whether they are licensed and if so,
the
terms of the license.
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My next question, after reading the USENET stuff about patents
expiring, was probably extremely impolite:
From: Mitch Grunes Sun Apr 27 07:30:31 2003
Date:Sun, 27 Apr 2003 07:30:31 -0700 (PDT)
Subject:RE: Request for information on LZW licensing
To:"Tartler, Cheryl D." <Cheryl....@unisys.com>
--- "Tartler, Cheryl D." <Cheryl....@unisys.com> wrote:
> Yes, you need a license to use freeware. Regarding shareware, it depends
> whether the author has a license with Unisys and the terms of the license.
>
> Regarding the specific products, you should contact the
> developer/distributor regarding whether they are licensed and if so, the
> terms of the license.
Information has been posted to the USENET newsgroup comp.compression
http://groups.google.com/groups?q=g:thl892488944d&dq=&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=2d0837c4.0301281138.781b396e%40posting.google.com
indicating that
>...the LZW patent has a term of 17 years. The patent
>number is 4,558,302, and according to the U.S. patent
>web site (http://www.uspto.gov) The LZW patent was
>issued December 10, 1985. That means the 17 year term
>ended December 11, 2002.
>
>One can assume that this means the LZW algorithm is now
>in the public domain, to be used by software developers
>writing LZW related applications (which includes TIFF,
>GIF and PDF applications) without paying licensing fees
>to Unisys...
If this information is incorrect or incomplete, can you
specify the reason why a license is still required?
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Her reply:
From:"Tartler, Cheryl D." <Cheryl....@unisys.com> | This is spam |
Add to Address Book
To:"'Mitch Grunes'" <gru...@yahoo.com>
Subject:RE: Request for information on LZW licensing
Date:Mon, 28 Apr 2003 10:19:04 -0400
Mitch:
The patent in the U.S. is in effect until June 20, 2003. The duration
of
the patent was extended as a result of legislation adopted relative to
GATT-TRIPS. The patent expires 20 years from the filing date or June
20,
2004.
Please feel free to verify this with your legal counsel.
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