Re: MPlayer DFSG compatibility status
On Tue, Oct 07, 2003 at 08:53:44PM -0400, Brian T. Sniffen wrote:
> > There is a significant part to these patent enforcement stories: they all
> > happen on Win32 platform. Microsoft has never enforced media patents on Linux
> > market, as far as I know.
>
> That's irrelevant if they actually own the patent: the goal is not to
> avoid getting sued, it's to avoid breaking the law.
Patents are handled pragmatically: if a patent isn't shown to actually be
enforced, we ignore it. Otherwise, we'd be lucky to keep "hello world"
in the archive.
"... but they don't enforce it against Linux users" is a bad idea, though.
Any form of enforcement indicates a hostile patent owner.
--
Glenn Maynard
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