As has been said, this isn't a legal list.
At best, we can only conclude that this is a very grey area
throughout different regions of the world, and as such, is not only
out with the scope of this list, but possibly of the spec itself.
Unless legal advice can be sought from all potential markets, I think
we are all arguing in vein and should conclude to distance ourselves
from including this type of thing in the spec.
On 23 Mar 2007, at 09:32, Maik Merten wrote:
Gareth Hay schrieb:
Not in the EU, no such thing as a software patent.
To my knowledge the MPEG patents are *not* software patents but are
what
I know as "Verfahrenspatente" (crudely translated that would be
"Method
patents" - anyone knowning the correct term?). Those patents are
valid here.
However, no matter what kinds of patents they are: The MPEG-LA
collects
money from european companies.
Sadly, the payment doesn't indicate anything, other than these
companies *think* they need to make them.
Maybe they do, maybe they don't...
