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Diffstat (limited to 'audio/lame/files/lame_patents.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | audio/lame/files/lame_patents.txt | 27 |
1 files changed, 27 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/audio/lame/files/lame_patents.txt b/audio/lame/files/lame_patents.txt new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..2d906788c66d --- /dev/null +++ b/audio/lame/files/lame_patents.txt @@ -0,0 +1,27 @@ +# $FreeBSD$ + +Intellectual Property Precaution + +Verious sources explain that the MP3 patents are expired. Various +linux distributions provide precompiled LAME packages for download +since then. + +Most sources, (e.g. http://www.mp3licensing.com/) only talk about +the FhG and Technicolor patent portfolio, but there are also +portfolios from Sisvel (from Philips) and Nokia (from AT&T -> Lucent +-> Alcatel). + +Some "old" patents are now expired, but there are more recent MP3 +patents. Some of the more recent ones are e.g. multi-channel related. +Multi-channel (>2 channels) is not implemented in LAME, but this +doesn't mean that there are other patents which could match what +is implemented in LAME. + +There was no investigation (in the LAME project) about which patent +exists, which one is implemented in LAME, and which one is not (yet) +expired. As such it is not known if LAME could now be distributed +as a binary package or not. + +Linux distributions seem to go the "let's see if get sued" way, +FreeBSD does not follow this. + |