The good news is that the GIF patent expired on June 20th 2003 (for the U.S only). And more good news is that the patent was supposed to expire roughly a year past that mark for other countries that have various patent laws. Bad news is, since mIRC is international, we'll probably never see that patent expire completely around the world and/or by the time it does, mIRC may no longer be in developement. But we can always cross our fingers smile