www/philosophy gif.html

[Richard M. Stallman]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Richard M. Stallman <rms>       13/05/10 12:39:49

Modified files:
        philosophy     : gif.html 

Log message:
        Say that we don't know whether animated GIFs are safe.
        Clarify prefatory note.
        Link to limit-patent-effect.html.
        Don't say "software patent".

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/gif.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.56&r2=1.57

Patches:
Index: gif.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/gif.html,v
retrieving revision 1.56
retrieving revision 1.57
diff -u -b -r1.56 -r1.57
--- gif.html    23 Mar 2013 22:17:34 -0000      1.56
+++ gif.html    10 May 2013 12:39:46 -0000      1.57
@@ -7,13 +7,14 @@
 <h2>Why There Are No GIF Files on GNU Web Pages</h2>
 
 <p>
-<strong>While this story is a historical
-illustration of the danger of software patents, these
-particular patents are now no longer a concern (see 
-<a href="#venuenote">footnote</a> below).  For details of our web site
-<a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics">policies
-regarding GIFs</a>, see our <a href="/server/standards/">web
-guidelines</a>.</strong>
+<blockquote>There is no special patent threat to GIF format nowadays
+as far as we know; <a href="#venuenote">the patents that were used to
+attack GIF have expired</a>.  Nonetheless, this article will remain
+pertinent as long as programs can be forbidden by patents, since the
+same sorts of things could happen in any area of computing.  See
+<a href="/server/fsf-html-style-sheet.html#UseofGraphics"> our web
+site policies regarding GIFs</a>, and
+our <a href="/server/standards/">web guidelines</a>.</blockquote>
 </p>
 
 <p>
@@ -156,10 +157,11 @@
 </p>
 
 <p>
-A further issue is that the LZW patents&mdash;and
-software patents in general&mdash;are an offense against the freedom
-of programmers generally, and all programmers need to work together
-against software patents.
+A further issue is that the LZW patents&mdash;and computational idea
+patents in general&mdash;are an offense against the freedom of
+programmers generally, and all programmers need to work together
+to <a href="/philosophy/limit-patent-effect.html">protect
+software from patents.</a>
 </p>
 
 <p>
@@ -230,7 +232,14 @@
 2004 and in Canada it expired on 7 July 2004. The U.S. IBM patent
 expired 11 August 2006. The Software Freedom Law Center says that
 after 1 October 2006, there will be no significant patent claims
-interfering with employment of the GIF format.</p>
+interfering with the use of static GIFs.</p>
+
+<p>Animated GIFs are a different story.  We do not know what patents
+might cover them.  However, we have not heard reports of threats
+against use of animated GIFs.  Any software can be threatened by
+patents, but we have no reason to consider animated GIFs to be in
+particular danger &mdash; no particular reason to shun them.</p>
+
 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
 <div id="footer">
@@ -269,7 +278,7 @@
 
 <p>Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2013/03/23 22:17:34 $
+$Date: 2013/05/10 12:39:46 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>