[Theora] FPGA implementation in the camera

[Andrey Filippov]

I'm considering implementing the Theora format in the FPGA of the new
camera. The previous model (Elphel 313 - http://www.elphel.com,
https://sourceforge.net/projects/elphel) had smaller FPGA and was
able to produce just motion JPEG utilizing 97% of the resources. The
new (model 333) camera uses 3 times bigger FPGA (and also faster), it
also has increased frame buffer and system memory. I've already ported
old code to the new camera, it can produce motion JPEG at
1280x1024 at 30fps (1600x1200 at 20 fps, 2048x1536 at 12fps) and uses only 1/3
of the FPGA. So now I'm ready to start working on video compression
(probably no motion compensation at first).
Considering Ogg Theora format I've got a couple questions I could not
find answers to:

1 - Legal stuff. Is it legal to implement VP3-related coding
algorithms in FPGA? Or do the licenses to use the related patents
apply to the software only?
2 - Where is the best place to find the documentation on the formats
and required algorithms (not the source code of the software
implementation)?