Opus codec available now in Asterisk
blogs.digium.com
Opus codec available now in Asterisk
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Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#2Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#3Does anyone have more detail on the licensing issues with Opus that caused the binary module/daily "phone home to Digium" license check?
That is, of course, assuming there are still IP issues. I'm not sure what made them concerned about that, if anything tangible.
Notably, the Opus license is voided when you enter Opus-related patent litigation with an Opus user. I think many(most?) companies which hold patents relevant to Opus also license Opus for their products; so they would be trading patent litigation for copyright litigation.
From the Opus licensing page¹:
When it comes to patents, it is difficult to say much without making lawyers nervous. However, we can say something quite direct: external counsel Dergosits & Noah has advised us that Opus can be implemented without the need to license the patents disclosed by Qualcomm, Huawei, France Telecom, or Ericsson. We can also say that Mozilla is confident enough in Opus to ship it to hundreds of millions of Firefox users. Similarly, Cisco and Google are also supporting Opus in some products. More companies are expected to do the same soon.
Mozilla invested significant legal resources into avoiding known patent thickets when designing Opus. Whenever possible, we used processes and methods that have been long known in the field and which are considered patent-free. In addition, we filed numerous patent applications on the new things we invented to help defend the Opus community. As a result, Opus is available on a royalty-free basis and can be deployed by anyone, including other open-source projects. Everyone knows this is an incredibly challenging legal environment to operate in, but we think we’ve succeeded.
Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#4Does anyone have more detail on the licensing issues with Opus that caused the binary module/daily "phone home to Digium" license check?
I think they are concerned that there may still be some unexplored patents which apply to Opus. If they don't track the numbers, then they may need to pay the absolute maximum license fee to a (future, unknown) patent holder because they can't bound the number of licensees. That is, of course, assuming there are still IP issues. I'm not sure what made them concerned about that, if anything tangible. Notably, the Opus…
Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they are concerned that there may still be some unexplored patents which apply to Opus. If they don't track the numbers, then they may need to pay the absolute maximum license fee to a (future, unknown) patent holder because they can't bound the number of licensees. That is, of course, assuming there are still IP issues. I'm not sure what made them concerned about that, if anything tangible. Notably, the Opus…
I wonder if they got shook down by a patent troll?
> Transcoding the Opus codec requires a special license as it is subject to a royalty agreement.
https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E61547_01/doc/esbc_ecz730_mainten...
Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#6Earlier quoted context omitted.
I think they are concerned that there may still be some unexplored patents which apply to Opus. If they don't track the numbers, then they may need to pay the absolute maximum license fee to a (future, unknown) patent holder because they can't bound the number of licensees. That is, of course, assuming there are still IP issues. I'm not sure what made them concerned about that, if anything tangible. Notably, the Opus…
I wonder if they got shook down by a patent troll?
Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#7Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if they got shook down by a patent troll?
If so, Oracle did too: > Transcoding the Opus codec requires a special license as it is subject to a royalty agreement. https://docs.oracle.com/cd/E61547_01/doc/esbc_ecz730_mainten...
Re: Opus codec available now in Asterisk
#9Does anyone have more detail on the licensing issues with Opus that caused the binary module/daily "phone home to Digium" license check?
Binary blob only, and phones home? Even if it is an attempt to put an upper bound on (unlikely) royalty payments to a third party, this really smells bad.