[Patents] Re: [Patents] Unisys steps up with the LZW licensing (fwd)

[Jesus M. Gonzalez-Barahona jgb@gsyc.inf.uc3m.es]

Justin Mason writes:
 > [...]
 > Basically Unisys now want cash to allow you to use GIF files on your 
 > website.
 > [...]
 > http://corp2.unisys.com/LeadStory/lzw-license.html
 > 
 > Web Site LZW Licenses Available from Unisys

        I've read a related page, also from Unisys,
In it, they claim to have patents granted in USA, Japan,
Canada, France, Germany, Italy and UK. How is this compatible with the 
EU not admitting software patents? Anybody has a clue? Are we in
Europe affected by this patent?

http://corp2.unisys.com/LeadStory/lzwfaq.html

 "More and more people are becoming aware that the reading and/or
 writing of GIF images requires a license to use
 Unisys patented Lempel Ziv Welch (LZW) data compression and
 decompression technology, including United States 
 Patent No. 4,558,302, Japanese Patent Numbers 2,123,602 and
 2,610,084, and patents in Canada, France, Germany, 
 Italy and the United Kingdom."

        Saludos,

                Jesus.

-- 
Jesus M. Gonzalez Barahona             | Departamento de Informatica
tel +3491 624 9458, fax +3491 624 9129 | Universidad Carlos III de Madrid
jgb@gsyc.inf.uc3m.es, jgb@computer.org | avd. Universidad, 30
Grupo de Sistemas y Comunicaciones     | 28911 Leganes, Spain