Bug#347832: Bug#349693: ITP: gst-fluendo-mp3 -- MP3 decoder plugin for GStreamer
On Wednesday 25 January 2006 21:53, Florian Weimer <fw@deneb.enyo.de> wrote:
> There is no difference between decoders and encoders. Both require
> patent licenses. There are a few references to a statement by some of
> the patent holders (Thomson IIRC, the company representing one of the
> larger MP3 pools) that free[1] decoders can use a royalty-free
> license. This statement has either never been made by Thomson, or it
> has been withdrawn. Thomson has no intent to go after purely
> non-commercial activities, though. So Debian itself should be fine,
> but Debian distributors probably aren't.
>
> [1] "free" as in "beer". If you use your free-as-in-freedom GPLed
> decoder for commercial activities, you need to obtain a license.
> Thomson made that one pretty clear.
This factor makes it significantly different from the other programs which are
afflicted with patent claims. If Thomson has made clear statements about a
common use case of software based on their patents in Debian then it's quite
different to a battle between Adobe and Macromedia.
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