Re: [Savannah-hackers-public] mpeg patent license?

[Sylvain Beucler]

> I am not certain of how Savannah intends to deal with potential
> patented software.

First, all pieces of software use software patents (in countries where
patents were voted as legal), because almost everything is patented.

Sometimes the GNU project makes a campain against one particular
patent that its holder is enforcing (and not using only for
self-defense against other patents attack). In which case we disallow
hosting a project that makes use of it. The last example was the
compain against the GIF format.

Currently I don't think we have a campain against MPEG but you may ask
RMS to make sure (add a Savannah list in Cc if you do).

-- 
Sylvain

On Fri, Aug 07, 2009 at 12:49:24PM -0400, Nicodemo Alvaro wrote:
> The ffmpeg software has this license in the file fdctref.c that is
> distributed with Blender. I see another project is saying it would like
> to work with mpeg codecs; however, I am not certain of how Savannah
> intends to deal with potential patented software.
> 
> /*
> 
> These software programs are available to the user without any license
> fee or royalty on an "as is" basis.  The MPEG Software Simulation Group
> disclaims any and all warranties, whether express, implied, or statuary,
> including any implied warranties or merchantability or of fitness for a
> particular  purpose.  In no event shall the copyright-holder be liable
> for any  incidental, punitive, or consequential damages of any kind
> whatsoever arising from the use of these programs.
> 
> This disclaimer of warranty extends to the user of these programs and
> user's customers, employees, agents, transferees, successors, and
> assigns.   
> 
> The MPEG Software Simulation Group does not represent or warrant that
> the programs furnished hereunder are free of infringement of any
> third-party patents.  
> 
> Commercial implementations of MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 video, including
> shareware, are subject to royalty fees to patent holders.  Many of these
> patents are general enough such that they are unavoidable regardless of
> implementation design.
> 
> */