Re: Licensing of mp3 decoders
> > > According to the DFSG this makes every mp3 decoder non-free or even
> > > undistributable.
> >
> > It doesn't, actually. Although it might make it non-distributable
> > under US law, and some other countries which honour the relevant
> > patents.
>
> As I said above....
>
the decision made several months back was "let's wait and see". Red Hat
removed mp3 support from their distro and their users have not been too happy
with this. We obviously could take the "patents are bad and we refuse to
support them" stance and remove the mp3 players as well. However no one has
made it clear that *decoders* fall under the claims of Thomson and company or
that they are actively enforcing them.
If they actually cared, I suspect xmms and several other groups would have
been contacted by lawyers by now. As Andrew noted, there are also legal
avenues of defense as well.
The patent is held in Germany which means there is no safe place to keep the
packages if we decide to (re)move them.
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