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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

#141

Post by breakyerself »

polonbike wrote: post #123
manarth wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Can other e-commerce sites legally "one-click" to purchase like Amazon now?" Amazon doesn't use one-click any more. The closest it gets is "Buy now", which is two clicks from item page to purchase.

The fact that they don't use it has nothing to do with the availability of the patented process. I don't think Amazon will just say : "You guys can have it, we don't use it anyway"

I think their point was that it's not a good feature if even the owner doesn't use it. So there's no reason to copy it regardless of patent status.

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

#142

Post by AdmiralAsshat »

robertlagrant wrote: post #134
daneel_w wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 compa…

It was amazing being able to fit a full length movie on a CD-ROM though.

Didn't VCDs do the same thing? IIRC the Sega Saturn could play them.

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

#143

Post by ninalanyon »

miguelxpn wrote: post #112
FuturisticLover wrote: post #109

Siemens holding one of the key patents in video codecs surprises me. I am not technically savvy, but I thought telecom infrastructure or direct media companies would hold the most important patents on this.

If I'm not mistaken they had a telecom infrastructure division at one point.

They certainly did, they also made mobile phones.

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

#144

Post by lightedman »

daneel_w wrote: post #97
BarryGuff wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 compa…

"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."

That's the fault of your decoder; I never had that problem playing DivX or XviD videos in VLC.

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

#146

Post by goodcanadian »

jambalaya8 wrote: post #121
goodcanadian wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I recently learned about this from my company's patent lawyers. Patents only give protection in countries where they are filed. So, you can not create a product in Brazil that violates a Brazilian patent. And, you cannot import a product into Brazil that violates that patent. But, there is nothing stopping you from making that product in the US and selling it to Americans. The whole treaty business essentially me…

By your company's patent lawyers' logic then, any American drug or technical doodad patented in America is totally legal to be knocked off in Majarashtra or Taiwan or Guangzhong. Pretty sure if you tried pulling this you would be disappointed with the outcome. Not that it is not done (obviously), but that it (pretty sure) isn't legal.

If it hasn't also been patented in India or Taiwan or China, that is 100% correct (but they can't ship it to the US). However, it would be typical to patent in all of those countries at the same time.

I'm going to trust a patent lawyer over someone on the internet. And so should you, if this situation applies to you, don't trust me: get a lawyer.

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

#147

Post by doubled112 »

AdmiralAsshat wrote: post #142
robertlagrant wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was amazing being able to fit a full length movie on a CD-ROM though.

Didn't VCDs do the same thing? IIRC the Sega Saturn could play them.

I recall that full length movies on VCD were usually two discs to get decent quality.

Not needing to get up and switch discs because you could use divx or xvid instead was a real life improvement.

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

#148

Post by goodcanadian »

technothrasher wrote: post #136
goodcanadian wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So, I recently learned about this from my company's patent lawyers. Patents only give protection in countries where they are filed. So, you can not create a product in Brazil that violates a Brazilian patent. And, you cannot import a product into Brazil that violates that patent. But, there is nothing stopping you from making that product in the US and selling it to Americans. The whole treaty business essentially me…

You are talking about the Paris Convention. The parent poster was talking about the Patent Law Treaty. The Paris Convention made it easier to file in other member countries after filing in your home country, but you still have to file in each country you wish to be covered in. The much newer Patent Law Treaty allows for "international" patents, which only need to be filed once to be applicable in all member countries…

As I understand it (and IANAL), an international patent makes it a lot easier to file in multiple countries (single application as you say), but you still have to pay the fee to each country you want protection in.

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

#149

Post by grishka »

ninalanyon wrote: post #143
miguelxpn wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I'm not mistaken they had a telecom infrastructure division at one point.

They certainly did, they also made mobile phones.

And quite cheap and hackable ones at that.

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

#150

Post by grishka »

unfitted2545 wrote: post #2

Are patents a necessary evil?

They're a nice idea poorly executed. If they would last something like 5 years instead of 20, and only be assignable to individuals, not companies, and non-transferable, they could work as intended.
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