Sale of codecs

[Corey Burger]

On Thu, Sep 25, 2008 at 8:49 AM, Martin Owens <doctormo at gmail.com> wrote:
> OK Misinformation busting time:
>
> It is not illegal to distribute or operate most of the codecs in the
> US or anywhere else. So long as it's the free software packages,
> liblame (mp3), ffmpeg, libdecss, and so on. none of these packages
> have copyright problems and none have been challenged for patent
> problems.
>
> (as an example) Accatel and mp3 parents. We have _NO_ idea if liblame
> breaks any of the patents. It's just not safe for a _company_ to
> _distribute_ considering they may or may not be sued and may or may
> not loose the case against a patent suite.

Liblame may not, but I am 99.9% sure and with damages awarded in the
13 figures[1], I don't think anybody is going to find out:

http://blogs.wsj.com/law/2007/02/22/microsoft-loses-mp3-patent-case-to-the-tune-of-152-billion/

Corey