| |||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization SolutionMicrosoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization SolutionPosted Sep 16, 2008 13:39 UTC (Tue) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048)In reply to: Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution by DonDiego Parent article: Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution
Nowadays every Microsoft codec [...] can be played entirely with free software. Can be played, yes. And "freely", also. But not legally (at least in some countries) due to patent issues, and even Microsoft does not own all the patents so they have to pay to license them. In the Moonlight case, Microsoft is paying for the patent licenses, and this is one of the reasons why we get that binary blob, which you can freely replace with ffmpeg if you rebuild Moonlight from source, and if for you is legal doing so. This comment above is really correct and informative.
(Log in to post comments)
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 18, 2008 8:27 UTC (Thu) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141) [Link]
Please explain what you mean by the term "legal". Which laws are being broken and what sanctions have people suffered due to breaking of said laws? Who has gone to jail, who has paid a fine, who has received a warning letter?
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 18, 2008 12:17 UTC (Thu) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link] Please explain what you mean by the term "legal". Which laws are being broken and what sanctions have people suffered due to breaking of said laws?
AFAIK, patent laws, in the countries that allow software patents and recognize the patents affecting those codecs.
This legal situation is bad, and we should push to eliminate software patents. Meanwhile, these are the rules of the game. Who has gone to jail, who has paid a fine, who has received a warning letter? Likely, no individual user has. But a large corporation found breaking the rules would get the consequences immediately, if somebody could profit from it.
Ciao,
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 18, 2008 22:37 UTC (Thu) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141) [Link]
So if the only problems that have ever appeared were for distributors with deep pockets, why do you claim that playback is illegal? This is a false claim that just creates a patent scare.
Nobody has ever had legal problems by using free software codecs to play content. Please do not create FUD by pretending otherwise, you are not helping anybody.
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 19, 2008 12:55 UTC (Fri) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link] Please, let's not mix unrelated things. AFAIK, using and/or distributing Free Software codecs like ffmpeg is not legal in the USA, for anybody. Large corporations and individual users are subject to the same law.
And I'd really like to be proven wrong on this!
That said, you know that doing something illegal does not mean you will be discovered, or punished. It just means you did it. Since a patent cause costs lots of money, people do patent causes only when they think that in the end they will get the money back and earn more in the end. If you sue a single user, there's no way he will repay you of the cost of suing him, so nobody does it. In this sense you are right, individual users are "practically safe", nobody is likely to care about them. But I don't think this means that using ffmpeg in the USA is legal: it just means individual users will get away with it, because suing them is not worth the money it takes.
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 19, 2008 21:09 UTC (Fri) by nix (subscriber, #2304) [Link]
IANAL, especially not a US L, but I didn't think patent infringement was
actually a criminal offence, i.e. illegal. It might be a civil tort over which the patent holder could seek to recover funds from you, but that doesn't make it *illegal*.
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 20, 2008 10:25 UTC (Sat) by massimiliano (subscriber, #3048) [Link] IANAL, especially not a US L, but I didn't think patent infringement was actually a criminal offence, i.e. illegal. Ok, this could explain the misunderstanting. I live in Italy, and English is not my mother tongue. Here in Italy we have a distinction between civil and penal codes (and laws), where civil ones have as "punishment" fines and/or paying damages, while infringing a "penal law" can send you to jail. However, we call "illegal" any act that infringes a law, be it a civil or penal matter. If English has a different word for describing the fact that infringing the civil code is against the law, and if patent laws are in the civil code (which I think is true), then sorry for defining patent infringement "illegal"... Anyway, could we just agree that using ffmpeg and other Free Software codecs without paying royalties to the MPAA and other patent holders is "against the law" in the USA? That was the point of my original message...
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 20, 2008 10:57 UTC (Sat) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141) [Link]
No, we cannot agree because there is no law which says that using free software to decode video is forbidden! The original point of your message is wrong, this is what I am trying to tell you. So stop spreading FUD once and for all please.
There are some organizations that might (or might not) come to collect protection money from you, but you are not doing anything illegal if they do not come for you. This is a very important difference.
The only ones who may (or may not) have something to fear are big commercial distributions. Do not pretend that their situation is in any way related to the situation of the users of free software solutions for video decoding.
And remember that the world is bigger than the USA. You are making it sound as if a problem that exists for a few companies operating in certain markets extends to 6 billion people worldwide.
Also, the MPAA has nothing to do with this, you are confused.
Microsoft and Novell deliver Joint Virtualization Solution Posted Sep 28, 2008 23:02 UTC (Sun) by pboddie (subscriber, #50784) [Link] There are some organizations that might (or might not) come to collect protection money from you, but you are not doing anything illegal if they do not come for you. This is a very important difference. That's like saying, "You may be chased by the police when robbing a bank, but you are not doing anything illegal if you make a quick getaway." And before anyone repeats the civil vs. criminal distinction, be aware that various agreements and directives are in place, with more to come, which seek to erase such distinctions. Also, the MPAA has nothing to do with this, you are confused. On the contrary, all the lobbying for criminal penalties on previously civil matters is all about punishing "the pirates", and who else is the poster boy for that particular crusade?
|
|
||||||||||||