Re: XMMS and the new MP3 patent terms
----- Original Message -----
From: "Paul Johnson" <baloo@ursine.dyndns.org>
To: "List, debian-user" <debian-user@lists.debian.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 9:01 PM
Subject: XMMS and the new MP3 patent terms
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> http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/08/27/1626241&mode=nocomment
>
> New MP3 License Terms Demand $0.75 Per Decoder
> PatentsPosted by chrisd on Tuesday August 27, @12:27PM
> from the good-thing-ogg-is-up-to-speed dept.
> Gotz writes "The licensing terms of Thomson and the Fraunhofer
> Gesellschaft, who are the owners of the mp3 patents, have changed. Now
> not only mp3 encoders but also mp3 decoders require a license. This
> page lists the fees -- it's $0.75 per decoder. As a consequence, Red
> Hat has already removed all mp3 players from the Rawhide development
> version."
FYI,
Th following is dated 29.08.2002 09:10 (German Time I guess) (source
http://www.heise.de/newsticker/data/vza-29.08.02-000/)
"Statement from Thomson Multimedia, mp3 Licensing
In a posting appearing Tuesday August 27, 2002 on the Web site
'slashdot.org', an individual cited a change in the mp3 license fee
structure of Thomson and Fraunhofer. The writer of the post apparently
misread the mp3 licensing conditions, as Thomson's mp3 licensing policy
has not experienced any change.
To clarify, since the beginning of our mp3 licensing program in 1995,
Thomson has never charged a per unit royalty for freely distributed
software decoders. For commercially sold decoders -- primarily hardware
mp3 players -- the per-unit royalty has always been in place since the
beginning of the program. Therefore, there is no change in our licensing
policy and we continue to believe that the royalty fees of .75 cents per
mp3 player (on average selling over $200 dollars) has no measurable
impact on the consumer experience."
Shri
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