First of all, I am not a lawyer, but I have talked to lawyers, but finding a lawyer who is willing to be quoted publicly without paying them is difficult. There are several things that can be meant went saying MP3 decoding because there are several things that MP3 can be. The MPEG-1 specification was publish in 1993 as ISO/IEC 11172. It include both video and audio codecs. Most of the MP3 files I have seen on the internet are MPEG-1 layer III audio. The linux file command will identify these as: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v1 The MPEG-2 specification also had layer III audio. The linux file command will identify these as: MPEG ADTS, layer III, v2 There is also a non-ISO MP3 file format that is called MPEG-2.5 created by Fraunhofer IIS. Now for patent status. MPEG-1 Layer III audio decoding is possible to do patent free in the US as of September 2015 assuming you do decoding in roughly the way described in the MPEG-1 specification. MPEG-1 Layer III audio encoding is probably possible to do patent free. That said there are patents that can apply to the encoding that expire in the 2017 timeframe. See for example US patent 6009399. MPEG-2 Layer III audio decoding and encoding may be patented or not. Many of the MPEG-2 patents don't expire until 2018, so it would take some work to determine if MPEG-2 Layer III can be decoded or encoded patent free. MPEG-2.5 is still patented for decoding and encoding and will be till at least 2017. The patents that Eric Smith is referring to that expire in February 2017 and April 2017 are by Sisvel and I believe they are U.S. Patent 5,878,080 <https://www.google.com/patents/US5878080>, which expires February 2017, U.S. Patent 5,850,456 <https://www.google.com/patents/US5850456>, which expires February 2017 and U.S. Patent 5,960,037 <https://www.google.com/patents/US5960037>, which expires 9. April 2017. These were filed in 1997 so it is highly unlikely that they read on MPEG-1 Layer III audio decoding since the MPEG-1 specification was publish in 1993 (and therefore the patents would not be valid against MPEG-1 since the filing date is more than 1 year after the specification was published). The patent that 'expires' in December 2017 I believe is U.S. Patent 5,703,999 <https://www.google.com/patents/US5703999> but I think that actually expired in 2014/12/30 (17 years after grant date of December 30, 1997) because it was filed November 18, 1996 but is a continuation of a PCT/DE93/00448 filed in May 18, 1993. Redhat lists this as expiring in November 18, 2016 (Possibly this November 2016 date is why MPEG-1 Layer III audio decoding is only happening now, instead of last year). (See also my previous email: https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/devel/2015-November/216662.html ) So an MPEG-1 Layer III decoding program can probably be used patent free. Joshua Cogliati > Date: Thu, 10 Nov 2016 14:55:06 -0700 > From: Eric Smith <spacewar@xxxxxxxxx> > Subject: [Fedora-legal-list] MP3 status? > To: legal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx > Message-ID: > <CAFrGgTS=c=PKDj0zmuhEyQT0B8EzFUyenzn7qB-kxNK3qiP4_Q@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> > Content-Type: multipart/alternative; > boundary=001a1144847a2ece3d0540f96d05 > > --001a1144847a2ece3d0540f96d05 > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > About three hours ago on Twitter @spotrh tweeted: > "As of today, MP3 decoding software is permissible in Fedora." > > Is this true? If so, could we have a bit more detail? > > I'm slightly suspicious as to the authenticity of the tweet because > yesterday @spotrh tweeted: > "I'm going to stay off social media for the foreseeable future. If you > need me, you know how to find me." > > There are MP3-related US patents with expirations in September 2015, > February 2017, April 2017, and December 2017, and some people argue that > the last one affecting decoding may have been the one that expired in > September 2015, but I don't know of anything that changed in 2016. >
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