Rockbox General > Rockbox General Discussion
MP3 Patents and Rockbox
JonathanHull:
I was thinking this same thing.
I also heard that this week there is another company (not lucent/whoever) who is sueing over different patents. They are suing Apple, Samsung, and Sandisk if I remember correctly.
So if there are 3 companies who own rights to MP3 patents, and only one "says" they aren't going to sue free codecs, I would think there is at least a little bit of concern that is valid.
And if I understand the GPL correctly, any patent could invalidate the use of the codec, whether it is enforced or not.
Could this be the big break for OGG/Vorbis and AAC? :-P
bascule:
--- Quote from: Llorean on February 27, 2007, 11:12:59 AM ---And then those of us who ripped from CDs, and used an unencumbered format willl laugh and laugh.
--- End quote ---
--- Quote from: JonathanHull on February 27, 2007, 11:14:17 AM ---Could this be the big break for OGG/Vorbis and AAC? :-P
--- End quote ---
Yes and Yes ;D
Llorean:
AAC is fairly patented as well, though, I thought.
JonathanHull:
--- Quote from: Llorean on February 27, 2007, 12:09:16 PM ---AAC is fairly patented as well, though, I thought.
--- End quote ---
Hmm. I've always heard of AAC as an "open standard". It's an MPEG standard anyway.
From the wikipedia article on AAC:
"In contrast with the MP3 format, which requires royalty payments on distributed content, no licenses or payments are required to be able to stream or distribute content in AAC format. ... However, a patent license is required for all manufacturers or developers of AAC codecs. [4] It is for this reason FOSS implementations such as FAAC and FAAD are distributed in source form only, in order to avoid patent infringement."
Ok, so not as open as I thought.
OGG/Vorbis FTW!
saratoga:
--- Quote from: JonathanHull on February 27, 2007, 12:47:13 PM ---
--- Quote from: Llorean on February 27, 2007, 12:09:16 PM ---AAC is fairly patented as well, though, I thought.
--- End quote ---
Hmm. I've always heard of AAC as an "open standard". It's an MPEG standard anyway.
--- End quote ---
MP3 and AAC are both open standards under the MPEG group. They're both heavily patented.
--- Quote from: JonathanHull on February 27, 2007, 12:47:13 PM ---From the wikipedia article on AAC:
"In contrast with the MP3 format, which requires royalty payments on distributed content, no licenses or payments are required to be able to stream or distribute content in AAC format. ... However, a patent license is required for all manufacturers or developers of AAC codecs. [4] It is for this reason FOSS implementations such as FAAC and FAAD are distributed in source form only, in order to avoid patent infringement."
Ok, so not as open as I thought.
OGG/Vorbis FTW!
--- End quote ---
The degree of openness has nothing to do with the number of patents. An open format is just one thats documented and open to other people to use (potentially at cost). A free format is one that open to use, free of charge.
AAC and MP3 are both open, but not free.
However, as this case shows, nothing is safe from patent infringement claims.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version