[vorbis] requested new features ?

[David Mitchell]

Matt and Karin Lawson wrote:
> 
> The website is:
>      http://www.mp3licensing.com
> 
> Basically the deal is that you can stream mp3s for free until the end of the
> year but after that, they start charging a royalty with a MINIMUM annual
> payment of $15,000.  If you also want to sell downloads, it's 1% of your
> sales with another annual minimum fee of $15,000.
> 
> Now remember these fees are only for the use of the mp3 technology
> itself, it doesn't include the myriad of royalties that are due to the various
> record companies, publishers, performing rights organizations, etc..
> 
> Realize that this also means that if you want to sell and stream YOUR
> OWN MUSIC that you personally wrote, performed, and recorded
> in your house, that adds up to $30,000 per year.  You see how
> absurd this is?

I'm curious what gives them the authority to license MP3
downloads? If I am selling .mp3 files, how would that be affected
by patents on audio encoding and decoding techniques? This may be
a stupid question, but an .mp3 file is not an encoder. And a .mp3
file is not a decoder. So why do their patents apply at all?

As an analogy, lets say I patent a new method for binding books.
It works great, saves the publishers a ton of money, and they all
license it. Great. I'm making money. My patent is being licensed.
But, my lawyers tell me I have a problem. Bookstores are selling
books made with my patented binding without a license! Do I have
any right to demand that they pay me royalties? If so, can I also
demand royalties from the truckers who ship the books? Can I
demand royalties from the reviewers who review the books? Can I
demand royalties from the trashmen who carry away the books after
they are read? Can I demand royalties from the people who read
the books? How far does this nonsense go?

Back to MP3's. As long as I am using a properly licensed encoder,
what say does Thompson have about what I do with that encoder? It
seems to me that their lawyers are making up "rights" out of thin
air and trying to license them. Oh well, this is probably a good
thing for Vorbis. After all, the more heavy handed and demanding
Thompson and Frh are, the better the competition looks.

-David Mitchell

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