On 6/3/05, Chris Adams <cmadams(a)hiwaay.net> wrote:
I was basing my comments on the current state of freely (legal or
not)
available MP3 decoders. AFAIK the free decoders are all GPL. For that
code to actually be legally distributable in some places (i.e. the US),
Fraunhofer would have to agree to a royalty-free patent license to the
copyright holder _and_ to anyone else who distributes such code under
the terms of the GPL (whether such distribution is commercial or not).
Otherwise, the code cannot be distributed at all (since a patent license
requirement conflicts with the terms of the GPL).
The assessment is valid... and materially different than what you
wrote earlier... because this paragraph does not put constraints on
what Fraunhofer is allowed to do with their patents.
-jef