Hi Brent! On Wed, 03 Oct 2001, Brent Geery wrote:
> On Wed, 3 Oct 2001 01:26:59 +0200, Roel VdB <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > >MC> I find this attitude stupid. Here you guys are... using an ILLEGAL > >MC> product (or did you pay the legally required licensing fees?), then > >MC> bitching, because someone wants to remove the branding. I don't get > >MC> it. Sounds like thieves complaining they got robbed. > > > >?? have a little respect please. > > > >there is nothing illegal about the whole LAME project. FhG put out > >ISO sources as a guideline, which can be modified legally. > > I'm not talking about the source, nor the project. You can "use" > source. I was referring to the binaries, that are required to do > anything useful. Those that use the binaries ARE THIEVES (including > myself.) Go ahead and justify and rationalize it all you want, but go > ask FhG if you owe a licensing fee to them. You are totally wrong. In patent friendly countries, what you need to do is pay the license for your particular need. It is the "mp3 technology" that is patented, so, if you intend to use this "technology" in your business, you have to obtain a license/agreement with the owner of this technology, and thats Thomson, not FhG (they sold it). Once you have the license to produce *any* mp3 content, you can use *any* tool you want. > >LAME started out, and still is an educational project to learn about > >and improve upon audio compression. > > Sure, I know. And MAME is also an educational project to learn how > arcade machines work. ;) So you think Arts and Science should be censored for the sake of the rightfully god given rights for corporations to make forever profit? Hmm i can think of a country where you could be happy to live ;) > >Over the last few years some very > >educated people have chosen to dedicate their valuable time into this > >project so YOU can make decent sounding mp3's now, thanks to their > >effords. > > I TOTALLY value there effort. LAME is amazing (same for MAME.) In > fact, I want to make sure their rights are protected. This includes > insuring that source is not "hijacked" by some control freaks, but > instead remains within the letter and spirit of the GLP licensing > terms. > > >Even more so, you should realise that since this year the complete ISO > >source distribution is replaced by superior code made by the people > >involved in this project. > > I know. The binaries and their output, are still in violation of > patents, however. No. The tool is not in violation of the law. Its the user. But then again, some believe that tools *must* illegal... > >Stupid is that some people want to make $$ on the back of the hard > >work of open source developers and completely PERVERSE imo is that > >some don't even have the least bit of curtosy or politeness to > >aknowledge this work. > > Understood, but lets stick to the real world here. These companies > are not only violating the terms of the GLP, but (much more > importantly) they are also violating several patents (just by using > the LAME source.) Giving credit to LAME is as much as saying "sue > me." Now, assuming they pay the licensing fees to FhG, they still > would not legally be able to use LAME, because of the GLP license. > And even if GPL allowed some way for the company to license the use of > LAME, just who would get that money? You? The original programmer? > See, LAME is not "owned" by anyone, so there is nobody to pay. > > Maybe these companies are just cheap pirates, or maybe they are doing > the best to give their customers the best quality, and handling the > situation in the only way they see practical. Wrong. If the company already has the proper license from the current patent holder; they can use whatever they want to produce / work with the patented technology. Where the product was made in house, or they used a third party source code to produce a binary, or just have a group of monkeys producing mp3s by hand. > >I find it appalling and offensive to see a person here shamelessly > >post a patch which can only be used to try and "HIDE" the origin of > >the high quality mp3 files. > > Why? You don't own it. Nor does ANYONE on it. Not the users, not > the programmers, NOONE. That is the blessing, and the curse, of GPL > and other public domain-like software. It attracts lots of people > that are willing to give of their time freely, but you can't later > "change their mind" and try are re-control the software. The main developers have all the right to deny any patch from the main tree. If the intented person has the willing to update this patch then, good luck. The developers can also have fun rearranging the code on each release/beta/alpha just to make it a pain for him to constantly update his patch. The source code ultimately belongs to each and everyone of the participants. And guess what? If each and everyone of the participants agree, they *can* change the license. So they own it, and as owners of the source code (note they _own_ the text) they decide it to give it under the GPL conditions. This code can be used to produce a binary. Its "legal status" depends on the country you live. This may be a suprise for you; but things like Patents on algorithms, source code or math formulae are *not* universally accepted concepts. Futhermore, even "Intellectual Property" and what some conveniently decided to call "Piracy" are not universally accepted concepts either. This is the world. Not your country, not even your county or neighborhood where your local laws apply to all the citizens of earth and the universe. So think about it the next time you decide to judge us all and call us what you think is wrong because they made you believe so. -- $B!V$3$N%;!<%i!<%`!<%s$,7n$K$+$o$C$F!#!#!#!!$*$7$*$-$h!*!W(B $B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!7nLn$&$5$.!"#1#9#9#2!#(B $B!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!VH~>/=w@o;N%;!<%i!<%`!<%s!W(B Home page: http://www.geocities.com/tokyo/6905 Anime radio: http://www.live365.com/stations/124148 Jpop/Jrock radio: http://www.live365.com/stations/228551 perl -le '$_="6110>374086;2064208213:90<307;55";tr[0->][ LEOR!AUBGNSTY];print' _______________________________________________ mp3encoder mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://minnie.tuhs.org/mailman/listinfo/mp3encoder
