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

[Cherniavsky Beni]

Joe \"piman\" Wreschnig wrote:
> 
> [Warning: following message is full of opinions.]
> 
> On Wed, Dec 13, 2000 at 02:34:04PM +0200, Cherniavsky Beni wrote:
> > I think you hadn't considered the point of "based works" which the GPL protects.
> > The question is whether some company can split a private development from the
> > free non-patented code, *improve* it in some way and patent the improved one.
> IMO, such a business model would not last long. If you license out a marginal
> (or even a major) improvement to something freely available, people aren't
> going to bite - they're going to use the worse one and not pay more.
> 
Sounds just like I usually behave :-)

> > Maybe if Xiph had patents, then the company's patent would be infringing on
> > Xiph's and Xiph could deny that company a lisence unless they in turn adopt
> > the same free lisencing policy.
> Possible, but any business that makes such an enhancement will probably find
> a way to patent their innovation as a completely new work, avoiding such an
> issue.
> 
The point is that patents have long lost their point, at least in the software
field - not that they ever had one here.  "Nostalgy isn't now what it used to
be".

> > I don't know patent laws well (a great deal of what I do came from reading this
> > mailing list :-), so I don't know if this point that exists in sofware
> > copyrights
> > (and is one of the main ideas of GPL) can be parralled in patents.
> As I explained above, I don't think it can, or needs to be. The GPL isn't (to
> me) about taking away rights - that includes the right to make proprietary
> products. It does _give_ the right for me to say you can't use my work without
> following guidelines I give.
> 
> And I oppose any software patents, "open" or not. You shouldn't be able to
> patent mathematical properties. Even if you do it "openly", there's no reason
> why you should own a property inherent to the universe. Maybe "open" patents
> have more validity/purpose in non-software fields.

Agreed.


-- 
Beni Cherniavsky <cben at crosswinds.net>
                 (also scben at t2,cben at tx in Technion)

  S.O.S   My country, Israel, is on fire.
  http://www.projectonesoul.com

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