Re: video codecs in HTML 5
Josselin Mouette schrieb:
> Thanks for these precisions.
I'm glad I could help to shed some light on that.
> I am still convinced that we should ignore patents entirely, but this
> isn't a consensus in the project, so the issues with h.264 remain the
> same as those of DivX et al.
Yeah, sadly it seems H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) is just as dangerous as
DivX/XviD (that's technology based on MPEG-4 Part 2).
Personally I would love to use and recommend those formats: They're well
performing and have good hardware support etc. - it's really a shame the
patent system is as lousy as it is.
Ignoring patents can be dangerous, though. If you get sued and the suing
party can prove you knew of those patents you can get punished even
harder AFAIK (IANAL!). In case of Debian vs. MPEG they could simply
point to the mailing lists where the various problems with patents were
discussed.
This whole patent system is a mess and I hope it either collapses under
its own weight or is redesigned so it becomes bearable. However, I don't
feel like there's much choice right now but to avoid patents wherever
possible, even if that isn't 100% safe either.
Maik Merten
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