Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs [LWN.net]

Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs

Posted Mar 23, 2008 3:31 UTC (Sun) by vonbrand (subscriber, #4458)
In reply to: Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs by DonDiego
Parent article: Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs

The problem is that Fedora is pointing people to proprietary alternatives to free software. There is nothing "illegal" about using free software to access all the media you have, your claim is FUD.

Sorry, in this case it just isn't this simple. The formats are patented (or at least, all ways of creating/interpreting data files in the format). And unless you have a license from the patent owner, you aren't allowed by law to use the format. The "free software" you mention can't be used legally unless you get the license, and that mostly means that the programs themselves can't be distributed by anyone.

Sure, the validity of said patents depends on jurisdiction, but in Fedora's case the US laws are the ones aplicable. Yes, Red Hat lawyers have looked into this numerous times, and they always advised against including such stuff, or even mentions to places where you can get it.

Besides, such stuff does go against the "only completely free software" ideal of Fedora, so...

(Log in to post comments)

Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs

Posted Mar 23, 2008 4:33 UTC (Sun) by zlynx (subscriber, #2285) [Link]

Well, IANAL, but as I understand it, possession of the source code or binary code that
implements a patented algorithm is not illegal.  How could it be, since the program is merely
an accurate description-which is exactly what a patent application is supposed to be-of the
process in question?

The alternative is plainly ridiculous, because if an accurate description is  a patent
violation, then as soon as computer language processing becomes capable of processing patent
application language, every document in the patent office becomes either a violation or an
invalid patent if it does not accurately describe the process.

It only becomes a patent violation when executed on computer hardware, as the
algorithm+computer execution is what is actually patented.

A site distributing the binary code might be accused of somehow contributing to patent
violations I suppose.

Fedora 9 to remove pointers to proprietary codecs

Posted Mar 23, 2008 11:16 UTC (Sun) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141) [Link]

It's very simple: Fluendo offers proprietary alternatives to free software.  If Fedora is all
for free software they should advertise free software or advertise nothing at all.

If your claim was true (which I'm not saying) you/Fedora would still have the choice between
proprietary software + restrictive patents or free software + restrictive patents.  The choice
should be pretty simple.

Plus, I stand by my point.  There is nothing "illegal" about using free software to access
your own media.  No court has ever decided otherwise.