Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uunet!snorkelwacker!spdcc!ima!esegue!johnl
From: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Newsgroups: comp.dcom.modems
Subject: Re: compressing a bit stream
Keywords: data compression
Message-ID: <1990Aug07.163940.9159@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us>
Date: 7 Aug 90 16:39:40 GMT
References: <26B70D8E.23784@ics.uci.edu> <573@westmark.UU.NET> <592@wattres.UUCP> <593@westmark.UU.NET>
Reply-To: johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us (John R. Levine)
Distribution: usa
Organization: Segue Software, Cambridge MA
Lines: 29

In article <593@westmark.UU.NET> dave@westmark.UU.NET (Dave Levenson) writes:
>Perhaps all nodes who run netnews should immediately discontinue the
>use of compressed news transfers until this matter is resolved?

Only if you want to triple your phone bill.  A few points:

-- AT&T distributes compress with recent versions of unix, and they have
patent cross-licenses with Unisys.  This means that in all likelihood anyone
who uses compress on a unix system has the legal right to use the patent,
independent of whether it applies to compress or not.

-- Since the patent has never been litigated, there is considerable doubt
whether the patent is valid, and if so, whether it applies to software-only
patents.  (The legal basis for software-only patents is quite fuzzy.)

-- Discontinuing your use of compress the moment you hear about the patent
is, in the eyes of a court, a virtual admission that you think you're
infringing it, and only makes your situation worse in the unlikely event that
someone took you to court.  Personally, I don't think that I am infringing
anything and see no reason to change what I'm doing.

-- Pragmatically speaking, there is no way that anyone can identify every
site that uses compress, arc, or any of the other programs that use LZW
compression.  There's too many, and there's no audit trail.

-- 
John R. Levine, Segue Software, POB 349, Cambridge MA 02238, +1 617 864 9650
johnl@esegue.segue.boston.ma.us, {ima|lotus|spdcc}!esegue!johnl
Marlon Brando and Doris Day were born on the same day.