On Feb 01, 07 13:47:15 +0100, Pascal Bleser wrote:
I don't know for the US, but the EPO (European Patent Office) only makes money from the patents that are filed and accepted, they don't have any other source of revenue (and no, they're actually not an official body of European Union). Hence, it's pretty obvious why they accept anything without properly validating.
I've been told exactly the same about the US Patent Office. I am under the impression that a patent is almost never rejected. And I've heared a very absurd reason: An inventor could sue the patent office for not protecting his work ... (absurd, but plausible)
http://news.com.com/Kodak+wins+Java+patent+suit/2100-1014_3-5394765.html
Right. That is about the worst that can happen. Some other troll squeezed money out of Sony for using JPEG.
Note that I'm _not_ saying: don't use Vorbis/FLAC/Theora because they probably violate patents.
D'accord. Do *use* Vorbis/FLAC/Theora because they are not activly threatened. (Not yet. Ouch, I know ...)
I'm just saying that software patents are an absurd and dangerous Damocles sword over the head of software development (both closed source and open source).
It is a strange life we live here. There may be threats hanging up there, but lawyers advise me, do not let these intimidate you. Otherwise, if we all stare at the threats, our business grinds to a halt.
And Jürgen, I know you know all that, it's more meant as a piece of information for those how haven't had the joy (?) of taking a dive into the topic of software patents ;)
Sometimes I am not so sure about what I know :-) I simply spoke up, beaucse this thread appeared to come to the conclusion that both mp3 and ogg are equally encumbered. There is definitly less threat to ogg formats, than there is to mp3. cheers, Jw. -- o \ Juergen Weigert paint it green! __/ _=======.=======_ <V> | jw@suse.de wide open suse_/ _---|____________\/ \ | 0911 74053-508 (tm)__/ (____/ /\ (/) | __________________________/ _/ \_ vim:set sw=2 wm=8 -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org