codec support

Peter Whittaker pwwnow at gmail.com
Thu Aug 3 22:08:46 UTC 2006


On Thu, 2006-03-08 at 13:31 -0400, Hubert Figuiere wrote:
> There seems to be a very big confusion with "patent encumberance" which does 
> not preclude an open source implementation, and prorpietary undocumented 
> format for which the only solution is to violate the code binary licenses.
> win32codecs is only for the latest.

IANAL and I do not play one on TV, but my understanding is that a patent
gives the holder an absolute implementation on all implementations of
the patented art: You are not entitled to roll your own, even for
personal use. Or, more to the point, knock yourself out but be prepared
to be asked to pay a license or get sued or both.

I could easily be wrong, but this is one of the first things I would
have clarified by a competent lawyer.

pww

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