Apple patents on font hinting expire(d)

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russh Registered Member Posts 13 Karma 0	Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:35 am Does this mean there will be underlying code changes to font hinting or is this the well known bytecode interpreter that doesn't tend to be included on shipping distro's? I'm gonna continue to research this - and I'll post any further details I find as a comment..
aapgorilla Registered Member Posts 247 Karma 0 OS	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 10:54 am I think it depends on how freetype was compiled, with or without the patented code...when the bytecode interpreter isn't available freetype uses its own **** "autohinter" and all apps using freetype will use it. My distro (mandriva) ships both versions (the one with the patented code is a bit hidden though) I only need to change the freetype version and kde and all other fonts fonts will look good
russh Registered Member Posts 13 Karma 0	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:02 am I was going to move to Suse as I gather it's a good KDE4 distro - I think they strip the bytecode interpreter don't they? Anyway - If I can find confirmation that this option is no longer patented, we need to get that message out!
aapgorilla Registered Member Posts 247 Karma 0 OS	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:14 am russh wrote:I was going to move to Suse as I gather it's a good KDE4 distro - I think they strip the bytecode interpreter don't they? Anyway - If I can find confirmation that this option is no longer patented, we need to get that message out! Yes they do, I have tried it several times and never liked it because of this, I think you need to recompile your own freetype everytime it updates Anyway I am a bit biased but why not mandriva, excellent kde and always bytecode enabled freetype available (in the plf repository)
russh Registered Member Posts 13 Karma 0	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:37 am Looks like the expiration date for Bytecode interpreting patents is well known - this 2007 interview from the Freetype guys states an expiration date of October 9, 2009. http://www.osnews.com/story/18166/Inter ... f_Freetype .. Ahh, some clarification on this hopeful thread, the freetype-devel mailing list has this clarification (here: http://lists.nongnu.org/archive/html/fr ... 00006.html) the patent expiration rules are now the following: - if the patent was filed after 1995-06-7, its expiration term is 20 years after the filing date. - if the was filed before 1995-06-07 and after 1978-06-08, then the term is 17 years from the issuing date the patent that cover some of the TrueType bytecode instructions are US 5,155,805 and US 5,159,668 which were both filed on 1989-05-08, so the second rule applies, and we need to look at their issuance dates to determine their expirations. they are, respectively, 1992-10-13 and 1992-10-27, corresponding to expiration dates of: 5,155,805: October 13, 2009 5,159,668: October 27, 2009 ...therefore looks like we're good to go with legal bytecode interpreters
aapgorilla Registered Member Posts 247 Karma 0 OS	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 11:47 am This is for US there are patents in other countries too iirc apple extended the patent too
russh Registered Member Posts 13 Karma 0	Re: Apple patents on font hinting expire(d) Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:21 pm There's no authoritative site that I can find detailing any extension to the patent, but this site confirms the (expected) October 13, 2009 date; http://www.patentstorm.us/patents/5155805.html I've posted a similar query to the freetype mailing list- will see what it produces.... US Patents - yes, but you know how it plays. Because there's an MP3 patent in the US, it means the rest of us still have to install it separately, too..