# GBM Legal Stuff

### Public domain declaration

The original version of GBM and the GBM tools for PM was written by Andy Key which he wrote in his own time on his own equipment. He used public non-confidential information to do so. He placed all this code into the public domain.

I (Heiko Nitzsche) have added code to GBM and the GBM tools under the same conditions and place all my donated code into the public domain as well. This does not apply to the used JPEG, PNG and TIFF helper libraries as well as to GBM plug-in for Lucide and GBM plug-in for Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/SeaMonkey.

These libraries have their own license.

The tools GBMVER, GBMCONV, the libraries GBMRX, GBMDLGRX, the GBM plugin for Lucide and the GBM plugin for Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/SeaMonkey have been entirely written by me (Heiko Nitzsche). I used public non-confidential information.

The source code of all GBM tools and libraries is freely available as well. The main goal is to support developers in creating new or enhancing existing applications for the OS/2 and eComStation platform. As the source code is placed into the Public Domain except for the above mentioned libs (JPEG, PNG, TIFF, GBM plug-in for Lucide, GBM plug-in for Mozilla), this is especially targeted to non-commercial developers which cannot afford licensing costs. Nevertheless it can of course also be used for commercial applications.

Feel free to do whatever you like with it.

No copyright / no royalties / no guarantees / no problem. Caveat Emptor!

Anyone offering ideas/code must be happy with the above.

### GBM plug-in for Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/SeaMonkey

This section is applicable if you are using the GBM plug-in for Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/SeaMonkey as either binary or source code.

Please see the licensing policy:

- GBM plug-in for Netscape/Mozilla/Firefox/SeaMonkey license

### GBM plug-in for Lucide

This section is applicable if you are using the GBM plug-in for Lucide as either binary or source code.

Please see the licensing policy:

- GBM plug-in for Lucide license

### JPEG support

This section is applicable if you are using GBM with JPEG support.

The Independent JPEG Group JPEGLIB version 6a/6b may be used provided they are credited, (which I do so here).
Please see their licensing policy:

- IJG JPEG 6B license

This software is based in part on the work of the Independent JPEG Group.

Martin Lisowski has donated `gbmjpg.c` to GBM and it is just as public domain as the rest of GBM.

### Compu$erve GIF Tax

Both, Unisys and IBM (and others), had various patents pertaining to the LZW algorithm used in GIF and LZW compressed TIFF files.

On 20th June 2003, US Patent 4,558,302 expired. This is the patent that describes the use of LZW in GIF files. Therefore, from now on, authors of commercial programs should no longer need to pay Compu$erve / UNISYS to use GIF.

### PNG support

This section is applicable if you are using GBM with PNG support.

The Open Source libraries Libpng and Zlib may be used provided they are credited, (which I do so here).
Please see their licensing policy:

- Libpng license
- Zlib license

This software is based in part on them.

I (Heiko Nitzsche) have donated `gbmpng.c` and `gbmmap.c` to GBM and they are just as public domain as the rest of GBM.

### TIFF support

This section is applicable if you are using GBM with TIF support.

The Open Source libraries Libtiff and Zlib may be used provided they are credited, (which I do so here).
Please see their licensing policy:

- Libtiff license
- Zlib license

This software is based in part on them.

I (Heiko Nitzsche) have donated `gbmmap.c` and a replacement `gbmtif.c` to GBM and they are just as public domain as the rest of GBM.

### PBM, PGM, PPM, PNM support

This section is applicable if you are using GBM with PBM, PGM, PPM or PNM support.

The Portable Bit- (PBM), Greyscale- (PGM), Pixel- (PPM) and Any-Map (PNM) formats have been defined by:
Copyright (C) 1989, 1991 by Jef Poskanzer.

I (Heiko Nitzsche) have donated `gbmmap.c` and replacement codecs `gbmpgm.c` and `gbmppm.c` and new codecs `gbmpbm.c` and `gbmpnm.c` to GBM and they are just as public domain as the rest of GBM.