gstreamer decoders [LWN.net]

gstreamer decoders

Posted Jan 28, 2010 0:00 UTC (Thu) by roc (subscriber, #30627)
In reply to: gstreamer decoders by DonDiego
Parent article: Blizzard: HTML5 video and H.264 - what history tells us and why we're standing with the web

> All the claims about a license being required in order to be "legally"
> allowed to use or even distribute H.264 decoding software are completely
> made up. Check the MPEG-LA licensing terms yourself:
> http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Agreement.aspx
> They only speak of selling products, not of using or distributing software.

Ah, this seems to be the source of your confusion.

MPEG-LA can sue anyone who's practicing the claims of their patents who doesn't have a license. If they don't offer a license that covers your usage, that's too bad for you.

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gstreamer decoders

Posted Jan 28, 2010 11:10 UTC (Thu) by DonDiego (guest, #24141) [Link] (1 responses)

> > All the claims about a license being required in order to be "legally"
> > allowed to use or even distribute H.264 decoding software are
> > completely made up. Check the MPEG-LA licensing terms yourself:
> > http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Agreement.aspx
> > They only speak of selling products, not of using or distributing
> > software.

> Ah, this seems to be the source of your confusion.

I'm not confused about how patent licensing works.

> MPEG-LA can sue anyone who's practicing the claims of their patents who
> doesn't have a license.

Yes, they *can*, but they do not have to. Also, they can just flatly deny you a license. Patent licensing is not compulsory. I know all that.

But the MPEG-LA is a patent pool. It's designed to maximize revenue for the parties forming the patent pool and simplify the access to patents for licensees. Denying you a license is not in their best interest, nor is suing every single entity that distributes technology that may infringe on their patents.

> If they don't offer a license that covers your
> usage, that's too bad for you.

We're going in circles here. Why are you so hell-bent on getting a license? The MPEG-LA states that licenses are only necessary in certain circumstances. When I point out that these circumstances don't apply to you, you sense impending doom instead of being happy...

gstreamer decoders

Posted Jan 28, 2010 20:49 UTC (Thu) by roc (subscriber, #30627) [Link]

> Denying you a license is not in their best interest, nor is suing every
> single entity that distributes technology that may infringe on their
> patents.

Denying us a free license is certainly in their best interest. They could extract millions of dollars a year in revenue from us. Ditto for every other entity with significant income.

> The MPEG-LA states that licenses are only necessary in certain
> circumstances.

I haven't found that stated anywhere. The MPEG-LA offers a license that covers certain circumstances. For all other circumstances, it is silent.

Maybe you're arguing that the MPEG-LA's silence about those other circumstances indicates that they don't care and would not choose to sue over those cases? That is extremely doubtful; it would be a most unwise business practice to forgo licensing for unforeseen product categories. And I already explained why relying on the beneficence of the MPEG-LA is not desirable.

My guess is that the MPEG-LA has simply not considered the possibility that an organization which could afford to pay significant licensing revenue would give away for free software that includes an H.264 codec.

Anyway, you can settle this. Go ahead and ask the MPEG-LA to declare that free distribution of FFmpeg does not require a patent license. If you get that in writing, that would be really interesting.