(The patent on the latter must have expired by now, hasn't it?)
Yes, it has.
According to a Google search result, you can use Imagemagick to convert SVG files to a bitmap format.

Last time I tried (2007 I think) that gave very poor results; maybe it's better now...

Instead I recommend using inkscape --export-png=file.png file.svg - not very fast but always good quality - what Corion already said..

In reply to Re^2: Path of least resistance to JPEGs by moritz
in thread Path of least resistance to JPEGs by smiffy

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