In a further twist in the .GIF patent claim from Unisys Corp (CI No 2,574), it seems that IBM Corp may also have a patent on the Lev-Ziv and Welch algorithm that Unisys Corp will attempt to enforce this year. A former IBMer has turned up on the Web claiming that he is a co-inventor of a data compression technique that encompasses the Lev-Ziv and Welch technique and saying that IBM filed a patent three weeks before Unisys did. In the US, the first one to file is not automatically awarded the patent. A .GIF page on the Web has become the focus for resistance for .GIF users to all attempts at patent enforcement. The page reports that modem manufacturers that use the Lev-Ziv and Welch compression technique have ended up paying royalties to both IBM and Unisys for the use of the algorithms. Web reports suggest that Unisys is well aware of the IBM patent, but believes it could prevail over IBM if it ever went to court. Unisys’s Bob O’Leary denied that IBM has a patent claim on Lev-Ziv and Welch, saying that the patent IBM has for data compression in .GIF relies on a different algorithm. Last week, Unisys had pulled back from the brink and decided that it would not be pursuing claims for programs using the algorithm in the .GIF format before 1995. The announcement was designed to quell the potential for bad publicity that Intel Corp recently suffered. Unisys will not be collecting on software that used Lev-Ziv and Welch technology prior to 1995, but does want a royalty where a software developer comes out with a new release of software that uses the algorithm. Furthermore, Unisys will not require developers to license software that is used for non-commercial purposes. As far as Unisys is concerned, the announcement regarding the patent claim was only ever intended to alert users of commercial software to their patent claims, and the subsequent brouhaha has brought unwelcome publicity. Extracting itself further from potential flak, Unisys is defending itself by saying that it did not require CompuServe Inc to pass on any fee to its sub-licensees or end-users, a decision in content and timing that was entirely at the discretion of Compuserve. Meanwhile, Compuserve says it is planning an alternative graphics format, and will offer it free of charge.
