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FreeType posts patent warning

Posted by Hemos on from the i-want-my-verdonna dept.

Anonymous Coward writes "According to the the FreeType web page, there have been some new concerns raised about Apple's patents on TrueType. I hope this doesn't affect the planned TrueType support in XF86 4. " It appears that they are still checking into the issue, but I'd really like TrueType support. A lot. Let's hope Apple responds nicely.

1 of 206 comments (clear)

  1. TT Patent by Stephen+"The+Carp"+C · · Score: 3

    As the Xfstt maintainer I thought I should post a
    note. I was informed of this patent a few weeks
    ago but hadn't had a chance to really look at
    it beyond a quick glance.

    Suposedly it only covers "hinting". Someone
    had said to me that prior art almost definitly exists (going back to the egyptions and the
    ancient greeks no less).

    It was also pointed out that Apple has never
    pressed this issue with anyone. I have been to
    busy lately to figure out how/if to respond to
    this problem.

    As it is now I plan to release xfstt 1.0 within
    a few days (no major changes since the last one..
    just a few minor fixes and updates that make
    things a bit more polished).

    If Apple isn't enforcing the patent...then might
    as well let sleeping dogs lie. At worst it can
    be moved to servers and maintainership outside
    of the non-free world.

    --
    -- Steve