[vorbis-dev] patents and separate entropy coding

[Borgerding, Mark A.]

I have some similar thoughts.  I'm offering them up with some hesitation,
mainly because I do not have as much invested personally in Vorbis as many
of you.  

Monty, I see your point about not wanting to tip the legal defense hand too
much, but ... 
a highly public, professional, well thought-out refutation of all questioned
patents might make the whole thing go away much faster. 

Let me explain,

It may be that Thomson genuinely believes that Vorbis is an encroachment.
If so, we should attempt to convince them otherwise.

It seems like the purpose of the suit, and especially Linde's comments, is
to increase FUD about Vorbis.  If we fight the FUD, the legal fight would be
fruitless for them to pursue.

Thomson hopes to quell Vorbis development, but the more publicity this case
gets, the worse the backlash for them if they fail.  If they fail in a court
to prove that Vorbis infringes on MP3 patents, they will not only have
exposed themselves to the world as the royalty-extracting monopoly that they
chose to be, but they will also have introduced the world to an alternative,
Vorbis.

In the end, this could be a good thing for Vorbis.  If it is proven, either
in a court of law or the court of public opinion, that Vorbis is not an MP3
ripoff and has some advantages over MP3, both legal and technical; then this
could actually act as a springboard for Vorbis.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-vorbis-dev at xiph.org [mailto:owner-vorbis-dev at xiph.org]On
> Behalf Of Bruno Barreto
> Sent: Friday, December 15, 2000 3:47 PM
> To: vorbis-dev at xiph.org
> Subject: Re: [vorbis-dev] patents and separate entropy coding
> 
> 
> > Jack, do you think it's a good idea to post my detailed 
> patent reading
> > we did as a first round for the original IP work?  It's 
> good meat, but
> > would potentially be giving the meat of our argument away to Thomson
> > if this ever does come to litigation
> 
> I agree you could be giving the meat of your arguments away...
> But i think at this differently... I know one thing... IF 
> Vorbis had the
> specs
> out now open to the public (i for one don't know where i can 
> get it, let me
> know
> if it's out already) and IF vorbis developers had made clear 
> their points of
> why
> they are absolutely sure vorbis does not infringe any patent, 
> then i'm sure
> that,
> those people that today post their concerns about vorbis 
> future against
> possible
> sues, would be completely convinced and relaxed about vorbis 
> being clearly
> not
> infringing any patents. Fhg and Thompson would not sue xiph, 
> if they knew
> that
> it is clear to most people on the internet who deal with 
> audio, that vorbis
> does not
> infringe any patents indeed. Now you see... As it is not 
> clear for many of
> us, if that
> is acctually true, how can we expect that this would also be 
> clear to "Henri
> Linde " Thompson's
> vice president, who said you were infringing thomson's 
> patents? If it had
> reached his ears
> that it's widely avaiable in vorbis site, how vorbis 
> acctually does not
> infringe the patents,
> he would not have said that coz he'd knew that there was a 
> proof that what
> he was saying was wrong.
> 
> In other words, Monty, i'd guess that posting your detailed 
> patent reading,
> and your arguments,
> would calm things down, and would seal Fhg and thompson's 
> mouths, in my
> opinion.
> 
> I fear that if this is not done, you could be giving them 
> space to sue you
> guys, and thus, putting away
> investors possibly, and maybe putting vorbis project at risk, 
> if xiph runs
> out of batteries...
> 
> Regards,
> Machado, Bruno.
> 
> Keeping our fingers crossed ;) - "Aleksandar Dovnikovic"
> 
> 
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