RFC 3951 is the specification of iLBC, and includes the reference
implementation in C source code. This is distributed by the IETF under
its normal license terms (BSD-style). However, the creators of the codec
claimed to have patents that would be infringed by distribution/usage of
that code (and made appropriate IPR disclosures to the IETF), and they
offered a free patent non-assert license via the 'ilbcfreeware.org' web
site. Many people have been taking advantage of this license for years
now, in order to ensure they could safely use the code from RFC 3951.
After Google's acquisition of GIPS, the situation has changed. There is
a new implementation of iLBC on the WebRTC site, under a different
license, with an explicit patent grant. However, that patent grant
applies *only* to the WebRTC implementation, not the implementation in
RFC 3951. The previous license mechanism on 'ilbcfreeware.org' has been
removed and is no longer available.
This leaves the community in the unfortunate situation of having an RFC
that contains a reference implementation, which has had IPR disclosures
made against it, but for which no free licensing terms are available
(even though they were in the past).
--
Kevin P. Fleming
Digium, Inc. | Director of Software Technologies
Jabber: kfleming@xxxxxxxxxx | SIP: kpfleming@xxxxxxxxxx | Skype: kpfleming
445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA
Check us out at www.digium.com & www.asterisk.org
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