[Theora] Licensing Question

[Thomas Kuglitsch]

Hi there,

I am new to Ogg/Theora and am trying to compare several video codecs as part 
of my master thesis at the University of Klagenfurt.
Therefore I have a question: will there be any patents problems using 
Ogg/Theora in the future? Is/will Ogg/Theora stay free from patents rights?
This would be a great advantage in using Ogg/Theora instead of e.g. H.264 
which is covered with numerous patents right now.

Thanks,
Kuge