Ubuntu ffmpeg won't do mp3

On Sun, 2005-16-10 at 17:20 -0400, Eric Dunbar wrote:
> Silly question about MP3/2:
> 
> when will the relevant patents expire? (e.g. JPEG and GIF have expired IIRC)

according to wikipedia, not until 2015. but it's not one single patent:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:MP3

When does the patent expire in the US and other countries?

      * It's not "the patent": rather, Thomson has the rights to a group
        of around twenty patents which are relevant to mp3s. There's a
        link given at the bottom of the main page. Some of the patents
        have already expired, as they were applied for and granted in
        the late '80s. However, because they were applied for and
        granted over a period of many years, some not until the late
        '90s, the last patent does not expire until around 2015. It may
        be possible to avoid infringing some of the patents, however, or
        possibly some of the later patents may be less valid or stand up
        to scrutiny less well than others; I don't know enough of the
        technical details.


-- 
Daniel Robitaille   
  Email: robitaille at ubuntu.com   Jabber: robitaille at jabberme.org