[vorbis] VP3.2 video codec open sourced

[volsung at asu.edu]

It is doubtful that the patent holder would be willing grant such permissions
as would be required by a free software project.  The patent holder would have
to grant essentially everyone license to the patented algorithms/techniques to
be used in any way they wanted, in perpetuity.  (As these are the freedoms
granted by free software licenses.)  At that point, you would have turned your
patent into very well documented prior art, but not much else.

Moreover, since it has been decided that the Ogg codecs should be BSD-license
to enable them to be incorporated into closed-source projects, the patent
holder would have to grant licenses that permitted closed as well as open
source usage.

I'm not saying it won't happen, but it isn't likely.  Here is the relevant
paragraph from the VP3 license, Paragraph 2.2(d):

  Notwithstanding Section 2.2(b) above, no patent license is granted: 1) for
  any code that Contributor has deleted from the Contributor Version; 2)
  separate from the Contributor Version;  3)  for infringements caused by: i)
  third party modifications of Contributor Version or ii)  the combination of
  Modifications made by that Contributor with other software (except as part
  of the Contributor Version) or other devices; or 4) under Patent Claims
  infringed by Covered Code in the absence of Modifications made by that
  Contributor.

Paragraph 2.2(e) then states that you lose your license to the code if you
make it incompatible with the existing VP3.2 format, which pretty well kills
long-term development.  The company is purposely making VP3 development a dead
end.  (Why wouldn't they?  They're still working on VP4.)

Anyway, this is getting off-topic, so I'll stop.


---
Stan Seibert

On Sun, 9 Sep 2001, Michael Paine wrote:

> Is it ok for a Vorbis codec to use patents if the patent holders allow so?
> 
> > On Sun, Sep 09, 2001 at 09:24:12PM +0200, smoerk wrote:
> > > On2 released the VP3.2 video codec as open source. I didn't read the
> > > license and could not say if it's really open source.
> >
> > It's not really open source. You can't use the code to write
> > anything but VP3.2-compatible programs, and it looks like it's still
> > under quite a few patents.
> >
> > --
> >  - Joe "piman" Wreschnig <piman at sacredchao.net> -
> http://www.sacredchao.net
> >   "What I did was justified because I had a policy of my own... It's okay
> >    to be different, to not conform to society."
> >                                          -- Chen Kenichi, Iron Chef
> Chinese
> >
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