jpeg and gif;
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>GIF and JPEG files cannot be used in your application because they >are copyrighted by their developpers. >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). >I hope this helps! I found this and was wondering if this is true? I thought that the algorithm was the copyrighted material. If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? Thank You Bo Hunter
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>GIF and JPEG files cannot be used in your application because they >are copyrighted by their developpers. >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). >I hope this helps! I found this and was wondering if this is true? I thought that the algorithm was the copyrighted material. If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? Thank You Bo Hunter
There are two issues there. First is the copyright/patent on the image format. Second is the copyright on the image itself. The image may be copyrighted, and you would need the copyright holder's permission to use it. For example, I couldn't take the "flying window" logo from a MS page and use it as my app's logo, because that logo is copyrighted and I don't have MS's permission to use the logo for my own purposes. It makes no difference whether I show mslogo.jpg using CxImage or a ported Unix JPEG library or a WebBrowser control; I'm still using the logo. The image format may have patents on it, most notably LZW-compressed GIFs, and again you need to consult the patent holder to see what restrictions (if any) they impose. JPG and PNG are free of any patent restrictions. GIF is not. --Mike-- Ericahist | CP SearchBar v2.0.2 | Homepage | 1ClickPicGrabber | RightClick-Encrypt If my rhyme was a drug, I'd sell it by the gram.
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>GIF and JPEG files cannot be used in your application because they >are copyrighted by their developpers. >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). >I hope this helps! I found this and was wondering if this is true? I thought that the algorithm was the copyrighted material. If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? Thank You Bo Hunter
Bo Hunter wrote: >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). AFAIK, that isn't a solution. Were the first remark true, you would still be violating copyright by displaying them, regardless of the technique you used. However, the first remark is laughably incorrect. Although there are certainly copyrighted images in GIF and JPEG format, there is no single source for them, and no single copyright holder - i own the copyright on the photos i produce via my digital camera for instance. What the person who wrote that statement probably meant, was that the technique of compressing such images is patented. This is true, for GIF, and (if i recall correctly) JPEG2000. It is not (to my knowledge, check if you're paranoid) true for JPEG. Oh, and the patent applicable to GIF is expired, so no worries there. So in short, the answer to your questions: Bo Hunter wrote: If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? Yes. Bo Hunter wrote: What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? One method uses a web browser control to draw a picture on screen for you. The other method does not. If distributing or displaying the picture is illegal, then using a webbrowser control to do it doesn't make it any less so.
But in the end, it's all just database access right? And that stuff is just plain boring.
- David Stone, not a programming question but...
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>GIF and JPEG files cannot be used in your application because they >are copyrighted by their developpers. >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). >I hope this helps! I found this and was wondering if this is true? I thought that the algorithm was the copyrighted material. If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? Thank You Bo Hunter
the algorithm used for compression in GIF is patented. the patent has expired in the US, and will expire in the rest of the world this summer. showing GIFs (or TIFF-LZW, or EPSPDF) in your app using a web browser or VB's image control or any other means is prohibited by patent laws, unless you have a license from Unisys to decode (or encode) in your app. if you do it without a license, you are violating the Unisys LZW patent (in countries where the patent is active). there is no way around this. simply because Microsoft (or any other company) makes it possible, or easy, for you to do this does not make it legal. JPEG is free of patent issues (as far as anyone knows). all images should be considered copyrighted by their author unless otherwise specified. patent and copyright are two different things. -c Losinger Designs | ClickPic | CheeseWeasle
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>GIF and JPEG files cannot be used in your application because they >are copyrighted by their developpers. >As a solution you may put a webbrowser control >and show the gif file in it ( you put it in a html file and it is done). >I hope this helps! I found this and was wondering if this is true? I thought that the algorithm was the copyrighted material. If someone had some freely usable jpeg or gif images that they wanted to display in a application, can they legally do it? What is the difference between showing them using a web browser or not? Thank You Bo Hunter
The other responders are correct. GIF as a file format was patented, JPEG is open source. Individual images are copyrighted regardless of what file format the appear in. I could photograph a sunset and copyright it and you would not be able to legally distribute that image - be it in hardcopy, JPEG, GIF, film negatives, etc. The reason you can display GIFs in a web browser is because the web browser is the application and the developer has already paid a licensing fee to utilize the GIF decoding algorithm.
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the algorithm used for compression in GIF is patented. the patent has expired in the US, and will expire in the rest of the world this summer. showing GIFs (or TIFF-LZW, or EPSPDF) in your app using a web browser or VB's image control or any other means is prohibited by patent laws, unless you have a license from Unisys to decode (or encode) in your app. if you do it without a license, you are violating the Unisys LZW patent (in countries where the patent is active). there is no way around this. simply because Microsoft (or any other company) makes it possible, or easy, for you to do this does not make it legal. JPEG is free of patent issues (as far as anyone knows). all images should be considered copyrighted by their author unless otherwise specified. patent and copyright are two different things. -c Losinger Designs | ClickPic | CheeseWeasle
Chris Losinger wrote: or EPS Hmm.. is EPS covered by a patent? I thought EPS was just a "componentized" version of PostScript? :~ -- He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.
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The other responders are correct. GIF as a file format was patented, JPEG is open source. Individual images are copyrighted regardless of what file format the appear in. I could photograph a sunset and copyright it and you would not be able to legally distribute that image - be it in hardcopy, JPEG, GIF, film negatives, etc. The reason you can display GIFs in a web browser is because the web browser is the application and the developer has already paid a licensing fee to utilize the GIF decoding algorithm.
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What's the latest butt-scratch count? Check it out!Terry O`Nolley wrote: JPEG is open source. I'd say open standard and non-patented. There are jpeg libraries which are not free/open source. -- He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.
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Chris Losinger wrote: or EPS Hmm.. is EPS covered by a patent? I thought EPS was just a "componentized" version of PostScript? :~ -- He just smiled and gave me a vegemite sandwich.
oops. make that "PDF" (which i presume is LZW-compressed) -c Losinger Designs | ClickPic | ThumbNailer
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The other responders are correct. GIF as a file format was patented, JPEG is open source. Individual images are copyrighted regardless of what file format the appear in. I could photograph a sunset and copyright it and you would not be able to legally distribute that image - be it in hardcopy, JPEG, GIF, film negatives, etc. The reason you can display GIFs in a web browser is because the web browser is the application and the developer has already paid a licensing fee to utilize the GIF decoding algorithm.
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What's the latest butt-scratch count? Check it out!
