As I write this late Saturday night, it is now Sunday in Japan.
According to the Unisys web site's “LZW Patent and Software
Information” page, “The U.S. LZW patent expired on June 20, 2003, the
counterpart Canadian patent expires July 7, 2004, the counterpart patents
in the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Italy expire June 18, 2004, and
the Japanese counterpart patents expire June 20, 2004.” It's over.
LZW patent
expires
And I have to wonder if Unisys ever made a profit on this patent, given
the way they handled it.
You have my permission to link freely to any entry here. Go
ahead, I won't bite. I promise.
The dates are the permanent links to that day's entries (or
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so that would make the final URL:
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