91–100 of 153 posts
To argue there will be no innovation in this field without patents is similar to saying there could be no innovation in Linux or Apache without restrictive, object code only proprietary licensing.
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Do you know why/how?
Software patents are not recognized in Europe, where the VideoLAN organization is based. http://www.videolan.org/legal.html
There's an interesting loophole: just also include in your invention the machine (memory + CPU) running the algorithm. Then you're patenting a device, instead of simply math.
Stallman described this method more than 10 years ago. I was hoping this wasn't true, until the (french) company I work in successfully used it to patent an underlying algorithm from the software I had written.
Maybe such a patent would be debunked in an european court? I'd be glad if this were the case.
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When people first started discussing which codecs to use on the web a decade ago, the argument made for the MPEG-LA stuff was that a) we're better, b) we're reasonably priced, c) we're already everywhere in hardware, and d) you don't have to worry about the patents because we've got you covered. Ultimately, they won on that basis. However, when HEVC rolled around, that argument was destroyed by the multiple patent po…
So how does this work out fee/patentwise in the OSS world? I know ffmpeg/libav can play HEVC/x265 streams (or at least mpv can). Can it not encode to HEVC? Or do the fees start to apply when you start distributing content? Or is it like mp3 where fees are only attached to hardware encoders/decoders (which gets all iffy because where do you draw the line between hardware sold for encoding/decoding that has software co…
HEVC is currently literally impossible to license. One of the pools hasn't decided on pricing yet. You basically have to set aside some cash and hope it's enough to back-pay once they announce the pricing. But even with the existing ones, you have to pay for encoders, decoders, and videos encoded in it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Efficiency_Video_Coding#P...
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If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a thousand times: Fuck the Fraunhofer Institute. There have been a lot of mistakes in the growth of the internet, but mpeg... Trying to own an entire space isn’t about making the world a better place. It’s about being in control. Me me me. Given how big video is now, and the interplay between available bandwidth and video quality, one wonders if certain bumps in the road would have…
I think it was interesting when they released the mp3 patents, every organization was broadcasting "mp3 is dead" when really the headlines should have been "mp3 encoding/decoding is now totally free." I'm convinced many big players wanted people to think mp3 was going away to push newer, patent encumbered formats.
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The alternative is... honest business practices.
That's an oxymoron.
Also, I happen to know a few very moral and ethical business owners who would rather lose money than screw someone over or do a shady business deal. (and have done this)
> Here are a few, out of close to 180 standards: MP3 for digital music (1992), MPEG-2 for digital television (1994), MPEG-4 Visual for video on internet (1998), MP4 file format for mobile handsets (2001), well mp3 was mostly frauenhofer, not mpeg (yes they created the standard, etc. but the most patentable work was done by the frauenhofer) also the date... on 1992 it was not (yet) called mp3. it's silly to actually n…
It was called MPEG2 Layer III, right? And the licensing around mp3 is why many Linux distributions didn't offer mp3 in the default install, without adding "non-free" repositories. We also saw open standards emerge, like Ogg Vorbis and FLAC (although neither were widely adopted by hardware vendors compared to Apple's AAC/ALAC)
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Software patents are not recognized in Europe, where the VideoLAN organization is based. http://www.videolan.org/legal.html
This must be an old topic for hn'ers, new to me, but this is incredible, we keep complaining about how stifling software patents are, why hasn't there been an explosion of innovation in Europe simply by having this benefit (has there been?)? Are there studies and comparisons of what has come of this policy?
The only projects I can actually think of that are based in the US and made by american authors are those by xiph.org, and they only get away with it because their entire business model is developing royalty free alternatives to MPEG codecs.
Even if multimedia patents might not affect big corporations much, they definitely seem to strongly affect the open source community. I imagine if we had similar dystopian laws here in the EU, our best and most beloved multimedia software would plain not exist.