gstreamer decoders [LWN.net]

gstreamer decoders

Posted Feb 3, 2010 18:13 UTC (Wed) by DonDiego (subscriber, #24141)
In reply to: gstreamer decoders by paulj
Parent article: Blizzard: HTML5 video and H.264 - what history tells us and why we're standing with the web

Patented software is indeed distributed all the time, just take Linux, Samba, Firefox as high-profile examples. Their license is not compromised by the fact that somebody somewhere claims some patent.

But you are not portraying my stance correctly, see my other posts for reference.

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gstreamer decoders

Posted Feb 3, 2010 21:29 UTC (Wed) by paulj (subscriber, #341) [Link]

Yes, I see my mistake. I thought originally you were referring to FFmpeg and
other unlicensed practitioners of patents distributing potentially patented
code.

Re the patent licence case, after digging relatively carefully through the GPL
v2 and v3 text to find the precise text that contradicts you, I find you may
well be right. I.e. I can no longer support this earlier paragraph of mine:

"If you come to an agreement with the patent holder, then obviously you
must secure a blanket agreement that covers all your down stream users. If
the patent only applies in certain countries, then note that the GPL allows
code to be distributed with geographic exceptions set by the rights holder,
while (it seems, but am not certain) remaining GPL compatible."

It seems the *actual* obligations imposed by the GPL do not go that far.
Rather it seems that, as you say, it only affects licensees who promise the
patent holder to try restrict those they distribute to. Which, it appears, is not
the case for the MPEG-LA agreement.

I'm starting to think you're right.