Independent JPEG Group License LEGAL ISSUES

In plain English:

   1. We don't promise that this software works. (But if you find any
   bugs, please let us know!)

   2. You can use this software for whatever you want. You don't have
   to pay us.

   3. You may not pretend that you wrote this software. If you use it
   in a program, you must acknowledge somewhere in your documentation
   that you've used the IJG code.

In legalese:

The authors make NO WARRANTY or representation, either express or implied,
with respect to this software, its quality, accuracy, merchantability,
or fitness for a particular purpose. This software is provided "AS IS",
and you, its user, assume the entire risk as to its quality and accuracy.

This software is copyright (C) 1991-1998, Thomas G. Lane. All Rights
Reserved except as specified below.

Permission is hereby granted to use, copy, modify, and distribute this
software (or portions thereof) for any purpose, without fee, subject to
these conditions:

   (1) If any part of the source code for this software is distributed,
   then this README file must be included, with this copyright and
   no-warranty notice unaltered; and any additions, deletions, or changes
   to the original files must be clearly indicated in accompanying
   documentation.

   (2) If only executable code is distributed, then the accompanying
   documentation must state that "this software is based in part on the
   work of the Independent JPEG Group".

   (3) Permission for use of this software is granted only if the user
   accepts full responsibility for any undesirable consequences; the
   authors accept NO LIABILITY for damages of any kind.

These conditions apply to any software derived from or based on the IJG
code, not just to the unmodified library. If you use our work, you ought
to acknowledge us.

Permission is NOT granted for the use of any IJG author's name or
company name in advertising or publicity relating to this software
or products derived from it. This software may be referred to only as
"the Independent JPEG Group's software".

We specifically permit and encourage the use of this software as the
basis of commercial products, provided that all warranty or liability
claims are assumed by the product vendor.

ansi2knr.c is included in this distribution by permission of L. Peter
Deutsch, sole proprietor of its copyright holder, Aladdin Enterprises
of Menlo Park, CA. ansi2knr.c is NOT covered by the above copyright
and conditions, but instead by the usual distribution terms of the Free
Software Foundation; principally, that you must include source code if
you redistribute it. (See the file ansi2knr.c for full details.) However,
since ansi2knr.c is not needed as part of any program generated from the
IJG code, this does not limit you more than the foregoing paragraphs do.

The Unix configuration script "configure" was produced with GNU
Autoconf. It is copyright by the Free Software Foundation but is freely
distributable. The same holds for its supporting scripts (config.guess,
config.sub, ltconfig, ltmain.sh). Another support script, install-sh,
is copyright by M.I.T. but is also freely distributable.

It appears that the arithmetic coding option of the JPEG spec is covered
by patents owned by IBM, AT&T, and Mitsubishi. Hence arithmetic coding
cannot legally be used without obtaining one or more licenses. For
this reason, support for arithmetic coding has been removed from the
free JPEG software. (Since arithmetic coding provides only a marginal
gain over the unpatented Huffman mode, it is unlikely that very many
implementations will support it.) So far as we are aware, there are no
patent restrictions on the remaining code.

The IJG distribution formerly included code to read and write GIF
files. To avoid entanglement with the Unisys LZW patent, GIF reading
support has been removed altogether, and the GIF writer has been
simplified to produce "uncompressed GIFs". This technique does not use
the LZW algorithm; the resulting GIF files are larger than usual, but
are readable by all standard GIF decoders.

We are required to state that

"The Graphics Interchange Format(c) is the Copyright property of
CompuServe Incorporated. GIF(sm) is a Service Mark property of CompuServe
Incorporated."
