On 3/28/06, Eric S. Raymond <esr@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > The page says $50K one time flat fee for a decoder. Is that for the codebase or per distributor of binaries? Considering that http://www.mp3licensing.com/royalty/software.html delibrately states that you need to pay royalities even if you licensed the the code from a third-party, I do not believe the "paid up" option would cover everyone using the codebase from a single open source project as you would suggest it would. In fact it seems to me the royalty is meant to be paid per distributing entity of the binary format. Feel free to contact the licensing entity which controls the patent royalty licensing terms and clear that up. What exactly is "paid up"? If the lame project "paid up" would anyone be allowed to re-distribute binaries using the lame project source code without paying additional royalties? Would people be allowed to make modified versions of lame source code and redistribute binaries based on that modified source without having to pay additional royalties? Exactly what is covered by the "paid up" language could even impact the ability of 3rd party vendors who create verbatim copies of the fedora installation media and update packages.. if the patent holder determines that someone like cheapbytes counts a new distributing entity. For all we know the "paid up" terms cover only public distribution from locations controled by the "paid up" entity. Without specific language covering the terms which outline "paid up" status, parsed by a lawyer, we can't even assume that public mirrors on servers outside the control of Red Hat could carry this material. I think you have read too much into the phrase "paid up" and have given the patent holder too much benefit of the doubt as to their intent with that phrase. We should all refrain from making too many assumptions that support our specific goals with regard to being able to provide as much mp3 decoding support as is reasonable. Since you seem to think there are yet to be discovered options in this area for the community to "pay up" for a codebase, please contact the patent holds for more information regarding the specific terms and conditions detailing "paid up" status... especially with regard to conditions as to coverage afforded to third parties who of redistribute source code, binaries and modifications of both. I look forward to your detailed analysis as to what options that we as upstanding members of the foss community have after you have had a chance to contact the appropriate patent holds and have reviewed the specific terms and conditions of the "paid up" licensing option. -jef -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
