We have to ask the users of W2H to stop to use hp2gif program. Here is an explanation of the licensing problem send us by Michael:
All I ask is that you stop distributing hp2xx (with GIF) together with w2h until either an agreement with Unisys is reached, or hp2xx is rewritten to provide the GIF functionality in a legal manner.And, indeed, Michael Schmitz was very cooperative and suggested some ways how to replace his tool. We have used some of his proposals and found an alternative way (see installation manual).
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I've bad news about the licensing issue: the result from a phone call from Unisys is that there is no longer any exemption from licensing even for non-commercial, free software. Their reason is that such exemption wasn't honored by commercial users of free software.Any distribution of hp2xx including the GIF option thus constitutes a violation of US and international patent law, unless someone applies for a product- oriented license with Unisys, and ensures that he can keep track of distribution of the package in order to bill commercial customers and pay fees to Unisys.
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I deeply regret this situation, and I'm willing to work together with you on a solution as outlined before.