[vorbis] Here is a link to what they say about "Other Formats"

[David Mitchell]

MCM wrote:
> 
> >  > I haven't heard about this at all. In fact, last I heard, they specifically
> >>  were _not_ getting patents.
> >>  If they do, I know a lot of people that will be stopping advocacy of Vorbis.
> >
> >Why?
> 
> Because if Vorbis used patents to protect their work, they'd be doing
> the same bad things that the format is supposed to replace.  A patent
> is a dangerous thing, because Bad People can come and acquire it and
> use it for the forces of Evil.  It's best not to support something
> that has the potential to be dangerous later, I suppose.

This is a good point. Suppose xiph did get patents on some of the
Vorbis technology. If FhG came along and offered $50,000,000 for
the patents, are we sure Monty would pass it up? Of course he
would, but here's a more likely scenario. Having patents would
mean that if FhG were to win a lawsuit against xiph.org, they
could gain control of the patents as part of the settlement. 

> 
> But I doubt that a patent could be enforced for Vorbis anyway, since
> it's being given away for free.  If too many people use your patent
> without paying for it, you effectively lose your ability to exert
> control over it.  Although I guess going through the steps would
> provide you with sufficient paperwork to overturn anyone else's
> attempts to claim YOU had violated a patent.

You are thinking of trademarks, not patents. If Coke(tm) were to
let everybody else get away with calling their soft drinks "coke
drinks", Coke would lose their trademark. Patents are not like
this, however. Look at Unisys. They let people use their patents
for years in GIF software without a peep. Then, one day, their
lawyers decided to try and clean up. Perfectly legal, and well
within the rights of patent law. Hell, I think the MPEG group
still gives away the source for the ISO reference encoder for
free. But don't think that prevents them from suing anybody who
tries to use a mp3 encoder for commercial purposes.

-David Mitchell

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