On Fri, 2006-02-10 at 23:34 +0100, Olaf Jan Schmidt wrote: > [ Bastian, Waldo ] > > Mostly free as in speech as well, the source for the MP3 codec is available > > under the MIT license, but there are some restrictions due to the patent > > license. > > This code may only be used if you obtain a patent license yourself. This is true for any mp3 code depending on nation of operation, no matter which source code license is used. We do offer a free beer patent license for desktop distro's and end users though.
> The MIT license was chosen because it allows for this additional > restriction. The > restriction is incompatible with all copyleft-style licenses, for example the > GPL or the LGPL. This means the code can only be used in applications that > either have a proprietary license or that can be relicensed to a proprietary > license (e.g. MIT, BSD, etc). This is highly inaccurate. There is nothing stopping using copyleft licenses to implement and distribute patented formats. The only thing is that you have to use a copyleft license which doesn't require you to do provide patent licenses to everyone downstream. Using the MPL for instance and adding the patent license requirements to the LEGAL file is one option. Real's makes a lot of their codec code available under what I guess is a Copyleft license (haven't done an in depth study, but their license is OSI approved if I remember correctly and all OSI approved licenses are considered 'copyleft' afaik.) We choose the MIT in this case simply cause we wanted to give people the ultimate freedom to choose how to use this code. Sincerely, Christian -- Christian Fredrik Kalager Schaller Business Development Manager Fluendo S.L. Mobile Phone: +34 678093464 Office Phone: +34 933175153 Fax : +34 934127034
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