Historical accident

Unisys's recent offer to only allow the free use of non-commercial, non-profit freeware GIF applications is unacceptable. In reality they would never have been able to effectively collect such royalties. They are simply making this offer to try and reduce the amount of criticism they are receiving on the net. They hope to keep the GIF file format alive and thus maximize the collection of royalties resulting from its use in commercial applications.

Unisys knows there is nothing unique about the LZW algorithm, and its incorporation in the GIF file format is nothing more than a historical accident. Unisys has played no part in the creation of the Web, yet they seek to tax people who wish to access it. The value of the GIF file format is the result of network externalities, not in any way the result of the intrinsic value of the LZW algorithm.

Unisys's most recent statement also contains serious ambiguities:

It is not clear if it applies to the use of not for profit GIF tools (such as Mosaic) in a commercial environment
Unisys says it "does not require licensing, or fees to be paid" under certain limited circumstances. It is not clear that this is the same thing as a royalty free license to use the patent under those circumstances. Could this requirement be changed in the future? And what would this assurance be worth if Unisys opts to sell their patent to a company like Refac that specializes in acquiring and litigating patents.

January 15, 1995

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