• Reported by Nate

The U.S. and other countries patents for LZW compression are now expired, the Canadian version will follow shortly (July 7). LZW compression is the brains behind the GIF format. I'm thinking that this should help designers indirectly. Even in the current days of better PNG support, having the GIF format un-patented should enable more software developers to fold it into their products without worrying about hefty licensing fees. (noted via eyebeam reblog)