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Apple Patent Blocking PNG Development
Daniel writes: "Apple has a patent (U.S. Patent No. 5,379,129) on compositing a source and destination image using a mask image. This patent appears to read on alpha channel transparency, which the PNG and MNG file formats use. APPLE has declared in their patent statement to the Scalable Vector Graphics Working Group that their patent is only available for RAND Licensing. Since this patent appears to read on the PNG file format, Apple is hampering work on the PNG and MNG file formats.
Perhaps Apple would like to clarify this situation by explicitly stating that this patent does not cover the PNG and MNG file formats or by RF Licensing their patent to the PNG and MNG development groups.
Alternatively, the PNG and MNG developers are asking people to submit prior art in order to invalidate Apple's patent. SGI in particular appears to have prior art with their 'blendfunction.' Make sure the prior art you submit is older than May 08, 1992, the filing date of Apple's patent."
However, [IBM] hasn't tried to *hamper development* of projects using this strange and unusual UI covention.
No, but they've definitely used it to their advantage. I came across this information around a decade ago, so forgive me if I'm overly broad or forgotten some of the details, but this is how I understand IBM operated during the original Attack Of The Clones.
Let's say you and I decided back in 1986 to start building IBM compatible PC's. Hey, everyone's doing it, we'll sell 'em cheaper than IBM and make a fortune. So we get the board and case suppliers online, license our own version of the Phoenix BIOS and negotiate bundling licenses for MS-DOS, and we're underway.
Pretty soon after getting started, we get a nice little packet from IBM's legal department which contains photocopies of a few PC-technology-related patents held by IBM, and a polite letter wishing us success in our venture and inviting us to come on in to negotiate a patent-licensing agreement. You and I, being young turks who've never dealt with Big Blue, decide that IBM isn't going to bother with us over a few patents, and blithely continue our little operation.
Some time later (reports vary), there's a knock on our door. Several suits enter, one of them carrying a largish briefcase. They introduce themselves as legal representatives of the IBM Corporation, and in the course of time reveal the contents of the case. In it are complete copies of over four hundred patents with direct application in the construction of a fully IBM-compatible PC, covering everything from the ISA bus to the way the cursor moves when you hit the Enter key. They explain the situation to us, and finally dawn breaks upon our fevered brows.
We sign an agreement granting us permission to use any and all patents involved in PC construction, in return for a nice healthy royalty to IBM for every PC we make. We also sign a non-disclosure agreement which states that we will not only keep the agreement confidential, we will keep the existence of the agreement confidential.
Thus, for several years, IBM made money from every PC ever made, whether it had IBM on the label or not. I assume the patents in question have expired by now, but IBM is a technology-creating machine even now, and a large chunk of their revenue still comes from royalties.
Side note: I fully support this kind of use of intellectual property. If I create something and someone else is making money directly from my creation, I should profit as well. If someone is using my creation for free, however, that's another kettle of fish, and I lack room in these margins to deal with that issue fully.
2001-02-05 10:55:26 Hawaiian ISP: "No AOLers!" (articles,news)(rejected)
2001-10-31 16:00:26 Audiogalaxy blocking my own copyrighted songs (yro,internet)(rejected)
2001-11-14 02:59:15 Op-Ed piece advocates summary executions by police (articles,news)(rejected)
Now I see I should have submitted them like this:
Apple: "No AOLers!"
Microsoft blocking my colon
RMS advocates summary execution for people who don't refer to it as "Gnu Linux"
And now I'll be modded down as Offtopic. You just can't win. :P
But seriously, Slashdot does seem a bit on the tabloid side lately.
-Legion
Shit man, click links people. I clicked on the link to the W3 page (http://www.w3.org/2001/07/SVG10-IPR-statements.ht ml) and right there at the top clearly stated:
Update: Adobe have updated their license to clarify that it is, indeed, Royalty-Free.
Talk about quick overreaction. Maybe check out the links and info before posting a story next time?
Perl - $Just @when->$you ${thought} s/yn/tax/ &couldn\'t %get $worse;