[vorbis] Fraunhoffer claims patents on other formats

[Jack Moffitt]

> I was unaware that this is the case. In fact, this is the first I've heard
> of it in any patent discussion - this would imply that the video evidence
> of hyperlinks in use in 1968 will have no effect on British Telecom's 1976
> patent claim on hyperlinking. 

This is untrue.  Prior art strikes the specific claim you show prior art
for for ALL PARTIES.  That claim is just invalid (although other claims
within the patent might still be valid).  This is why most patents
contain LOTS of claims.  Funny how fraunhofer only has 8-10 claims in
some patents :)

> - Who get's to hold the patent? Monty? ICast?

The inventor always has to be on the patent.  A non inventor cannot hold
a patent.

You can transfer hte patent after the fact.  And if there were open
sourc epatents, you'd have to hand them over to a trusted party I think.
But would the FSF use the patent as leverage to further their agenda?
Who knows.  

> - What sort of license arrangements are they going to arrange with the
>    public? 

Hopefully free and uninhibited use :)

> - What if Icast get taken over by Evil Corp or Monty get's bitten by
>    a radioactive hamster and turns into a supervillain? Will we have a
>    license that ensures we still get to use Vorbis technology free from fees?

This is impossible.  You can change license at any time, no matter what.
This has already happened with MP3 and with the LZW patent.

> Clearly holding patents opens a whole can of worms as far as licensing
> issues goes; ones that FSF's lawyers have already ventured down, so the
> Ogg project would be breaking new ground. 

There are people working on open patent stuff.  Until that's done, I'm
not doing anything.

jack.

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