Gif patents expire
this year.
Er, in europe that is to say, it's already expired in america.
png animation is done with a different file type (mng?) which if I remember rightly isn't supported by most browsers, if any.
(
_Felix 's school of dance and occult sciences,
Fri 12 Mar 2004, 23:51,
archived)
but it's the only time you'll ever see something referred to as
"an animated ming" outside of a flash gordon comic
(
Dano,
Fri 12 Mar 2004, 23:55,
archived)