[Theora] Independent implementations?

[Maik Merten]

<002601c469bb$536511f0$33389c3f at computername>
Message-ID: <40F564E5.8010908 at gmx.net>

Freun Laven wrote:
>
> The *patents* still apply, though.  That's different from copyright, which
> is tied to a specific implementation.  GNU, BSD, MIT, etc. are all copyright
> licenses tied to a specific code, and don't concern themselves with patents.

I?m aware of that.

> The guy was originally asking whether it was legal to do an independant
> version of Theora, since On2 held the vp3 patents.  And whether the license
> for the patents was tied to a specific implementation that you could only
> modify but never re-create from scratch.
>
> Since Theora is based on vp3, those patents still apply.

No doubt.

> I don't think
> any 'new' exclusive licensing terms were given to Xiph.

The "original" VP3-code (with some bugfixes I assume) is available in
Xiph SVN. This VP3-code comes with Xiph?s BSD-like license:

http://svn.xiph.org/trunk/vp32/LICENSE

That?s why I think the VP3-license does not apply to Theora.