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A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

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Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#91

Post by Hugsbox »

benj111 wrote: post #85
Dylan16807 wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course you shouldn't be able to patent an entire discipline! I can't comprehend your point of view here. And a million people had the idea of "controlling a vehicle in the air". Patents aren't for vague ideas, they're for specific mechanisms.

> I can't comprehend your point of view here It isn't their pov. 90% of computing patents are basically 'X on a computer' Eg the Amazon 1 click buy patent

Sure, things within the discipline of computing can be patented, but imagine if somebody just patented the entire discipline of computing.

Somehow 1 click buy doesn't quite feel like it's in the same category as humanity conquering the skies.

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#92

Post by BarryGuff »

nashashmi wrote: post #88

I remember DivX fondly. Even on dialup, picture quality was just phenomenal. Web tv watching was actually doable after this edit: I am talking about divx web player

> I remember DivX fondly

Now THAT'S a name I haven't heard in a long time. Yes, DivX was the sh*t back in the day. So good!

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#93

Post by foobar1274278 »

somat wrote: post #45
Shitty-kitty wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem often stems from the Patent Offices getting caught flat-footed with new tech. When the patent officers don't know enough about the field they are reviewing it is easy for things which are "obvious to experts in the field" or "overly broad" to slip thru and cause major headaches for everyone.

It does not help that things fundamental to the new tech, even though they took real effort to develop, are now exactly those items that are now "obvious to experts in the field" and "overly broad" And then have fun trying to distinguish real fundamentals from items in the form of (existing invention "with a computer") Or whatever the hot new tech of the day is. A good example(old enough to not matter any more) is th…

Cool, now do these:

"Buying something over the web", Amazon, 1997: https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en

"Rounded corners in a GUI", Apple, 2014: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9396565B2/en

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#94

Post by Brendinooo »

robocat wrote: post #60
Shitty-kitty wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A patent is meant to encourage people and companies to share the details of their inventions, instead of keeping them secret. In return the inventors get protection for a certain number of years.

That was the stated purpose of a patent. The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that. I wonder how much of ADSL's advantage is due to trade secrets (spread across many vendors) versus how much has been published as patents.

>The modern purposes of patents seem to have shifted a long way from that

I'm not sure if that's true, or if it's more that 1) we hear more about the more egregious stuff and/or 2) something was lost in translation with that stated purpose when the world went digital.

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#95

Post by Brendinooo »

What other tech patents did we somewhat resent being patented that are now expired?

I'm also thinking about the click wheel; I got one of my kids a knockoff iPod for Christmas last year.

Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?!?

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#96

Post by nemomarx »

Brendinooo wrote: post #95

What other tech patents did we somewhat resent being patented that are now expired? I'm also thinking about the click wheel; I got one of my kids a knockoff iPod for Christmas last year. Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?!?

Back in 2017 - https://patents.google.com/patent/US5960411A/en

Although I don't see a lot of other sites using it. You'd think Shopify would?

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#97

Post by daneel_w »

BarryGuff wrote: post #92
nashashmi wrote: post #88

I remember DivX fondly. Even on dialup, picture quality was just phenomenal. Web tv watching was actually doable after this edit: I am talking about divx web player

> I remember DivX fondly Now THAT'S a name I haven't heard in a long time. Yes, DivX was the sh*t back in the day. So good!

With emphasis on shit. Really. I can relate to the rose-tinted memories, but DivX and XviD both encode to MPEG-4 ASP which has a lot of shortcomings that manifestly result in the infamous sludgy green-purple banding artefacts of the time, no matter how good the chosen encoder is. XviD is the better of those two MPEG-4 ASP encoders, but it simply does not look good in an absolute sense, just in a relative sense compared to the alternatives of the era.

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#98

Post by gosub100 »

somat wrote: post #21
dlcarrier wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think they were entirely useless, but since then I've learned of many instances where a much better technology is developed because the first iteration is patented. For example, the Wright brothers biggest contribution to aviation was suing everyone using wing warping ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wright_brothers_patent_war ) which greatly advanced the adoption of the much more advanced ailerons. Software…

The wright brothers patent was not on wing warping, it was on controlling a vehicle in the air. In short the Wright brothers did not invent the aeroplane they invented how to control a aeroplane. https://www.wright-brothers.org/History_Wing/Wright_Story/Sh... "We wish it to be understood, however, that our invention is not limited to this particular construction, since any construction whereby the angular relations o…

It's a false dichotomy you must have exclusive rights to be profitable. What about the claim that you are "the first and the original X"?

Re: A 25-year-old video patent just expired, ending a legal headache for Linux

#100

Post by ksec »

Dylan16807 wrote: post #55

> The videos we watch on modern systems using H.264/AVC tech are running off MPEG-4 Part 10, and that is still very much covered by patents. I dispute "very much". It came out in 2004 and almost all the patents are gone.

Indeed. And it is Siemens again [1], only 5 left, and Siemens' one being 2030.

I am also interested if EVC Baseline profile will become patent free soon. Given it is built on top of AVC.

[1] https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Have_the_patents_for_H.264_M...

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