Peter Lemenkov wrote:
that describe the encoding process (the tricky part) will not apply. Also, statements from the patent holders up to now always allowed the non-commercial distribution of mpeg audio decoders without any fee.
Such non-commercial use restrictions are not compatible with Free and open source software or the Fedora licensing guidelines. moreover GPL license also requires a written non-limiting patent grant or we can't include GPL software that infringes patents on regions that enforce patents on software.
Bottom line is: While Fraunhofer/Thomson don't want to charge free software players - they said that a long time ago, the time for they being able to place such charges is expiring or has already expired. One should really think before adding mp3pro/surround support to mpg123, though, since there are for sure more recent patents for that. And don't forget: The progress bar is covered by a patent, too. ================================= Briefly speaking from the above notes we may find the following: * Looks like Ogg "violates" patents as well as mp3.
"Looks" are not enough. The claim should be very specific.
* Fraunhofer patents already expired in Europe. What about US?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing_and_patent_issues http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/ http://www.mp3licensing.com/patents/index.html Rahul -- fedora-devel-list mailing list fedora-devel-list@xxxxxxxxxx https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-devel-list
