On 10 June 2015 at 18:55, Michael Catanzaro <mcatanzaro@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Wed, 2015-06-10 at 16:04 +0200, Alex Puchades wrote: >> I'm not simply proposing this software to be added to the installer, >> but I'm proposing to discuss the reasons involved and if there's a >> legal reason where simply pointing users to RPMFusion, for example, >> would mean that Fedora is breaking patent laws. > > Hi, > > The short answer is that patent-encumbered software is only excluded > when there is high legal risk. If we were to enable freetype's subpixel > rendering, Red Hat would have to either pay $$$$$$$$ to Microsoft or > else prepare for the inevitable lawsuit. The MP3 situation is better, > since the last known patent expires in September; we'll include it in > F23 unless the lawyers give us some unexpected reason not to. > The funny thing about the MP3 patent expiring is that really MP3 is going away, and has been going away for some time now; AAC encoded audio in an MP4 container is becoming more prevalent these days, and of course AAC is another codec you can't legally add in a distro that resides in the u.s. .... so it looks like a race, one that Linux is losing unless users add 3rd party repos that can package those patent-encumbered codecs; 3rd party repos have a lower risk of getting sued, since they're individuals and suing them wouldn't bring in that much money anyway (you need to sue a big wealthy company to justify the lawyer hourly fees :)), of course IANAL, so don't take my views on legal matters to heart. (Sorry if I got a bit too philosophical :) ). -- Ahmad Samir -- desktop mailing list desktop@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/desktop
