On Sun, 9 Jun 2002, Derek Ross wrote:
GIF is in itself a copyrighted, or rather a patented, file format. Therefore it is just as legally problematic to upload GIF images to the Wikipedia without permission from the patent-holder as it is to upload any other form of copyrighted material without the permission of the copyright-holder.
Didn't the patent for the compression scheme used in GIF recently expire?
Also, isn't it just the "compressing party" that would be hit by such a patent? (I don't need to pay patent fees for collecting used machines containing patented gear.)
-- Daniel