On 7/23/05, Loïc Minier <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > With the recent clarifications on software patents in Europe, would it > be possible to distribute encoders packages from Europe?
Very inadvisable without an encouraging opinion from competent counsel, which (IANAL, TINLA) you won't get without cooperation with Thomson. Based on their recent statements, however, it appears to me that there might be an approach towards them that could result in a modus vivendi; thread at http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/07/msg00273.html . > My current understanding is that the algorithm can be patented, but a > pure software implementation is not violating such a patent. Is that > correct? No. Mathematical methods and computer programs "as such" are explicitly not patentable under the EPC, but that is currently understood to mean that the invention must have a "technical effect" beyond the manipulation of numbers and bits in a computer's memory. This is very similar AFAICT to the "concrete, tangible, and useful result" standard applied in the US since the 1994 In re Alappat ruling. Thread, with references to case law and the participation of an actual European lawyer, at http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/2005/07/msg00323.html . Cheers, - Michael (IANAL, TINLA)