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MP3 Patents and Rockbox

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Speedforneed:
With the recent MP3 patent lawsuits and all, I've been wondering how much it could affect Rockbox.  Any thoughts on this?  Does it even apply?

Krellion:
From the Wikipedia MP3 article:

"Additionally, patent holders declined to enforce license fees on open source decoders, allowing many free MP3 decoders to develop. Furthermore, while attempts have been made to discourage distribution of encoder binaries, Thomson has stated that individuals using free MP3 encoders are not required to pay fees. Thus while patent fees have been an issue for companies attempting to use MP3, they have not meaningfully impacted users, allowing the format to grow in popularity."

I see this as meaning that Rockbox has nothing to worry about. :)

bascule:

--- Quote from: Krellion on February 27, 2007, 10:56:57 AM ---I see this as meaning that Rockbox has nothing to worry about. :)

--- End quote ---
I don't see that at all. The point of the recent lawsuit was that a second party is claiming rights over the format. If agreement cannot be reached it is possible (although perhaps not probable) that the second party will harshly enforce its rights, effectively making the MP3 format unusable by anyone without risk of prosecution.

Llorean:
And then those of us who ripped from CDs, and used an unencumbered format willl laugh and laugh.

At the moment though, all we can do is wait and see.

GodEater:
It'll be GIF/PNG all over again.

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