I've recently heard that using a .gif image in a commercial software... is strictly prohibited.. without first aquring a commercial license from Compuserve (the makers of the .gif image format).
Does anyone know if it is actually true that a commercial license has to be bought in order to use an animated gif in a commercial software?
To support this claim.. I've also read off of wikipedia.com that PNG images.. a.k.a..
Portable Network Graphics "were designed as a replacement for the GIF format in order to avoid infringement of Unisys' patent on the LZW compression technique."
The above excerpt only really certifies that utilizing the .gif technology in a program(exporting an image as a .gif file, for example) is probably what requires a commercial license.
But what I would like to know is if I could just display an animated gif in a commercial program.. without having to buy a license.
Thanks for your help.