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GIF Patent Prepares to Expire
pajamacore writes "It's worth noting that 20 June 2003 is GIF Liberation Day, the day on which US Patent 4,558,302 expires. The patent describes the LZW compression algorithm used in .gif files. That said, maybe the prices of image editing applications will drop slightly when corporations don't have to pay fees to Unisys."
Which is why I use the gimp.
"It is not how things are in the world that is mystical, but that it exists." -Ludwig Wittgenstein
I don't think you'll be getting lower prices on software products because there is no longer a patent on LZW. I believe it's like $5000 to get a license for a single product. A pretty hefty fee, but that means nothing to someone like Adobe.
As noted on the GD website, the patent doesn't expire internationally until July 7th of next year.
We used their LZW compression algorithm in our product (for compressing product update files). It compresses text quite well for very little code. I asked Unisys what the fees would be for the use of this and it was US $2000! As a result we don't have that compression option in countries that have this patent.
Stuff paying $2000 for something that can be represnted by less than 30 lines of code.
Sorry, not yet. As noted on the GD website , the patent doesn't expire internationally until July 7th of next year. So no GIF support in the GD library for another year. :-(
Note, this only applies to the patent in the US.
License Information on GIF and Other LZW-based Technologies
"After expiration of the U.S. LZW patent on June 20, 2003, liability for patent infringement will occur only if an infringing act with respect to a product or service (e.g., developing, selling, offering to sell, making, using, distributing, downloading, exporting and/or importing) occurs in a country where the LZW patent has not expired.
Since each country has its own patent laws and rules regarding what constitutes patent infringement, effected persons may wish to seek advice from their own legal counsel."
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
found in google cache
License Information on GIF
"The U.S. LZW patent expires June 20, 2003, the counterpart Canadian patent expires July 7, 2004, the counterpart patents in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy expire June 18, 2004, and the Japanese counterpart patents expire June 20, 2004. "
Whenever the offence inspires less horror than the punishment, the rigour of penal law is obliged to give way...
Incorrect. Patents are renewable under limited circumstances, particularly where the company or individual can prove that significant investment or research went into the intellectual property.
The Canadian patent expires on the 6th of June, 2004, the European on the 18th of June, 2004, and the Japanese on the 20th of June, 2004.
Don't start partying until it's expired everywhere - you still need a patent license to create your .Z archives and compressed GIFs in these areas.
8-bit, 256 color PNGs are fine in 99.9% of browsers out there (anything above IE4/NS4 should handle them fine). They're smaller than GIFs when made/compressed with a decent program (pngout/pngcrush/etc). Use Jpeg for photos/images, use PNG for text/lines/simpe drawings.
You disagree? Hey, I'm just quoting the inventors of the format. Here's the evidence:
* CompuServe used to distribute a graphics display program called CompuShow. In the documentation for version 8.33 in the FAQ section, it states:There, straight from the inventors of the format. Convinced yet?
Except that the Gimp is no match for Photoshop.
That logic only works on commoditized goods. Even then, undercutting your competition is a very poor business decision in many cases; ask K-Mart and other deep-discounters, or perhaps the airline industry, how price warfare worked for them.
If price was the only thing that mattered for software, Microsoft, Adobe, Oracle, et al would not be where they are.
Random and weird software I've written.
A previous article covered some GIF/PNG thing. Comments also mentioned PNGCrush and PNGOut as PNG compressors. So I converted the "slashdot.org" pic to PNG and compressed it. PNGout won out, reducing slashdot.gif (3473 bytes) to slashdot.png (2453 bytes) - ~30% smaller filesize. And this is just for one small image, I'm sure the rest of the images on slashdot would do just as well.
PNG is supported on every browser and has been for years, even PocketPCs support it.
;)
'gif'-like PNGs, truecolor PNGs, and boolean transparent PNGs work great everywhere, but IE (for Windows; IE for PocketPC and Mac render fine, go figure) can't handle variable alpha transparent PNGs without tricks (and the 'AlphaImageLoader' trick fails on https:// addresses due to another IE bug, horray Microsoft).
There's no reason to use non-animated gif rather than PNG. PNGs are smaller (some crappy programs do a poor job of compressing them, convert PNG to PNG in GraphicsMagik to shrink), can do truecolor so you don't have ugly dithered gif graphics, and can do variable alpha transparency (although 5 year old bugs in x86/IE require detecting IE and spitting out ugly MS-specific HTML for this; most people just settle for boolean transparency, which is a shame). Even ignoring the functionality that is hard or impossible to use on x86/IE due to IE being a buggy mess, PNG still does more than gif (except animations - almost no one supports MNG right now).
Recent versions of gd and PHP have support for all these PNG modes. I know, as I fixed them.
Which I why I repeatedly used the term PNG8. 8 bit PNG, 256 colors, single-bit transparency. Just like GIF. Works great, even in IE.
And don't forget:
20 June 2003: The LZW patent expires today in the United States. However, patents on LZW are still in force in other countries. Please continue to refrain from using GIFs. More importantly, do not allow your communications to be censored by the whims of patent holders. Things you can do: Sign the petition: Burn all GIF's.
Quack, quack.
so is there any de-facto standard for adding simple animations to PNG?
Yes, and it's called MNG. KHTML (Konqueror and Safari) supports it. Mozilla 1.0 through 1.4 supports it. Though it has been removed from the Mozilla trunk, it'll go back in (b.m.o bug 18574) as soon as Glenn gets done reducing its code footprint. Plug-ins are available for Opera and Microsoft Internet Explorer.
If you consider MNG a bloated disaster, take a look at MNG-LC, which is smaller.
Will I retire or break 10K?
The use of the GIF format can be done currently without any patent issues, as long as you use the less-compressing RLE format. RLE isn't patented, so it's a semi-decent format to use if you absolutely require GIF images.
More information, with an interesting Unisys story as well, can be found at http://www.serverobjects.com/lzw.html.
Want to improve your Karma? Instead of "Post Anonymously", try the "Post Humously" option.
"Prior art" is exactly why the European and Japanese patents expire almost one year to the day after the U.S. patent does. After filing for a patent in the States, the inventor must file abroad within 365 days or loses the right to file abroad at all.
No, I don't know why Canada is an exception.
Will I retire or break 10K?
I don't know what software you're using, but I compressed the Slashdot title.gif down to 2551 bytes, or a savings of 922 bytes per title download. If you figure similar savings on the other graphics, it adds up quickly.
Actually, I discovered this early today -- a convenient little javascript hack that makes alpha transparency work in IE. Yep, it's really cool. Oddly enough, the spacer image included in it (you'll see if you check it out) is a GIF; it's easy enough to change to a PNG, though, and it works just as well.
Karma: Terrifying (mostly affected by atrocities you've committed)
Using a random sample of the 5 topic icons present currently with a quick pass at converting them:
topicgamesclassic.gif = 1081 bytes
topicgamesclassic.png = 958 bytes
Savings: 123 bytes
topicmusic.gif = 1163 bytes
topicmusic.png = 962 bytes
Savings: 201 bytes
topicpatents.gif = 1123 bytes
topicpatents.png = 1121 bytes
Savings: 2 bytes
topictech2.gif = 4756 bytes
topictech2.png = 3985 bytes
Savings: 771 bytes
topicus.gif = 2166 bytes
topicus.png = 1924 bytes
Savings: 242 bytes
Total gif size: 10289 bytes
Total png size: 8950 bytes
Overall savings: 1339 bytes
A savings of about 14%.
It adds up.
THis is only sort of true.
o rer-png-en .html
You can use this hack/work around to support it in IE 5.5 and greater:
http://redvip.homelinux.net/varios/expl
and if you're using them for background images, you can either make your stylesheet compile on the fly using php or perl or pyhton or whathave you or make two seperate versions and let the browser decide what it wants like i did on my site
Have a look at the CDRs that come with any printers, scanners, webcams, etc and you will find at least some basic image editing software.
Our scanner came bundled with Adobe PhotoDeluxe, (ie, free as in beer). It is a very user-friendly simplified PhotoShop. It was perfect for the web graphics we were doing. And its native files were PhotoShop compatible in case you need to pass them on.
A slight step up is Adobe PhotoShop Elements, which is very cheap and you might find that bundled too.
Old versions of PhotoShop are very cheap (on Ebay, and elsewhere). Two or more versions behind are pocket money, and may entitle you to cheap upgrades if you get the paperwork.
One more time... IE supports PNG8 with 1 bit of transparency, just like GIF. It does not support alpha transparency. So again, IE would do just fine with PNG8 with a single bit of transparency.
IANAL, but here's Canada's patent act.
;-)
Interesting sections:
27(8) No patent shall be granted for any mere scientific principle or abstract theorem.
>Prove that Canadian law does not allow a patent on "a computing device, with means for memory, input, and output, programmed to perform the following steps: (description of LZW follows)".
No point, because then it would only cover that device. For example, let's say it convered palm pilots using this neato LZW method. No worries, I can still use it on my computer.
I doubt Canadian patent law would allow such a broad definition as "Any device using this method". Because that's what it would have to be to encompass everything the LZW patent already does.
And just because it is patented here doesn't mean the patent isn't contestable. The only patent I could find (mentioned at this informative site) on software was contested and the patent nullified.
How'd I do?
If you could be told what you can see or read, then it follows that you could be told what to say or think - BoC
Works great with Typo3, too.
That's true. Microsoft, for example, makes an 85% profit from Windows sales. In other words, the production, packaging, and R&D constitute only 15% of the cost of Windows.
OLPC Australia
According to libpng.org, alpha was there by February 1995, well before most of the world (and certainly anyone influential at MS) had even heard of PNG.
The alpha channel support is nonexistant in GIFs, but no one cares about that. Transparency in indexed mode works just fine for both.
Ewige Blumenkraft.
Grokking the Gimp
And it's free to download
Oh how I love this stuff...
All the best!
Actually, IE implements gamma improperly too in some cases. I believe this is what causes colors that look fine in photoshop to NOT look analogous to HTML specified colors. It also loses its ability to view png files on occasions (as one of my friends can attest to) See http://libpng.org/pub/png/pngapbr.html#msie-win-un ix
IMO, while people persist with quesionable browsers like Internet Explorer, there'll be a place for GIFs.
AFAIK, GIF is the only image format that supports transparent backgrounds and renders properly in IE.
This means that if you're using transparent image backgrounds, your site will look like shit on 90+ % of visitors' screens - unless you use GIF. Sad but true.
-- In the beginning was the WORD, and the WORD was UNSIGNED, and the main(){} was without form and void...
I hope this page doesn't go away. I hope it is updated to the current state of the relevant U.S. patents on the LZW algorithm held by IBM and Unisys.
I hope the page doesn't go away because it makes a number of other points which are still valid including:
And I'm sure there are plenty of other valid observations. I consider that page to be a concise summary of some level-headed thinking on the subject of (what has come to be known as) software patents. It's often easier to point to that page than to get someone to listen to the speech on software patents or to read the entire transcript of the speech simply because the GIF page is shorter (but less comprehensive).
Digital Citizen
Slightly offtopic but IMHO very important: the juridical department of the EU has approved a new proposal for allowing software patents in the EU just this week. If it's up to the person responsible for preparing the decision making - Arlene McCarthy from british labour - this will be decided on in the the europarliament on the 30th of june. Please sign this petition to help stop this nonsense. I unfortunately only have a dutch link to the story (here).
0x or or snor perron?!
This is an important point. Further down the thread you have been mocked for having stock in Adobe and all that, but....
If you disagree with a company's policy in certain areas, but it's a profitable company, buying shares is a good plan. Especially if you can get above the minimum shareholding in order to attend annual general meetings, etc (often this limit is very low). You then get to put questions to the board. Being a shareholder gives you good leverage in a company, or at least more leverage than just being Joe Public. Also, you maybe get dividends and stuff ;-)
Greenpeace and others have possibly adopted this tactic, if memory serves, in order to legitimately attend and table questions at multinational company meetings. I generally agree with this, because at the end of the day, corporations are becoming bigger than governments... scary though it may seem, maybe only way to beat the system is to join it and fight from the inside. Like all these people who don't vote, and then complain when the candidate they *thought* would win does not - they have not played the system and have no excuse. Apathy and opinionated chatter is not getting us anywhere. Power to the people can only happen if people use the avenues and channels of democracy as they stand.
Conversion Rate Optimisation French / English consultant
In addition, you you can hack some support to MSIE: just use some javascript combined with "behavior" CSS attribute. Can you see the irony of using non-standard feature to fix non-standard behaviour? I have yet to have any luck with this hack combined with absolute positioning, so that isn't perfect. And as far as I know, one cannot use transcludent PNG as a background with MSIE, with hacks or not.
_________________________
Spelling and grammar mistakes left as an exercise for the reader.
This is a GREAT example of broken IP laws.
Before patenting the compression technology they placed it into the public domain.
After that IBM patented it AND THEN Unisys filed a patent.
Unisys got to keep it's patent becouse they can prove they had it first. But that proof comes in the form of publishing it.
In other words anything you place into the public domain you or anyone else can clame later.
If there was no GPL the first jerk who came along would sue Linus and RMS for IP theft and win.
The reason Compuserve used this compression technology was simply it was placed into the public domain.
But today there is no public domain just IP waiting for someone to scoop up.
You should not be able to file for and receave patent protection for anything that has already been published.
Well this nightmare will soon be over.
I don't actually exist.
...when copyrights would expire, too? There was this concept called the public domain, that balanced the rights of the artists with the rights of the community. Remember when the U.S. Constitution mean something?
"Does anyone remember laughter?"
You can get a 1 pixel invisible image down to 68 bytes by making it grayscale. That avoids the overhead of the PLTE and tRNS chunks. The reason it can't get down to the size of a GIF (which by using a 1 bit palette can in this case can be 43 bytes, not 49) is that PNG has a mandatory file signature, and IHDR and IEND chunks that add 33 bytes to start with. The IDAT chunk then has 12 bytes of overhead plus the data. If PNG supported uncompressed images, then theoretically, we could have 2 bytes of data (1 byte for the pixel colour + 1 for the transparency), which would get you a 47 byte image. Since PNG mandates deflate compression, though, the overhead actually increases the data to 11 bytes, and thus takes the overall image size up to 68 bytes. For pretty much any non-contrived example like this, though, PNG will be smaller than GIF.
"The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike." -- Delos B. McKown
If you want to import the file as raster content, just use "convert" in ImageMagick to convert it into a raster format such as PNG first.
There is a free program pnmtotiffcmyk in the pbm pack of conversion programs. Save your gimp image as pnm first of course. It's part of the netpbm package (which is also available for windows).
Since this program is freely available, I've really got to question whether there is a patent on cymk. There has been talk on various gimp lists about adding cymk, but so far nothing concrete. Perhaps some ./ reading CS student might do this for a school project??
You didn't fly SWA if you got a first class seat. SWA is all economy class. Perhaps you flew Northwest (now kickin' it old skool by calling themselves NWA)?
sulli
RTFJ.
Indeed. According to the Intro to PNG Features,
www.timcoleman.com is a total waste of your time. Never go there.