Mailinglist Archive: opensuse (2634 mails)

[Russell Jones <russell.jones@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

David Brodbeck wrote:
> Russell Jones wrote:
>   
> > As for whether the OGG formats are patent-encumbered: as I said
> > before, by definition they are not. They just may not be backward
> > compatible.
> >     
>
>
> They are not *known* to be patent-encumbered.  It doesn't mean someone
> couldn't pop up with a "submarine patent" that happens to cover them. 
> It's unlikely but it does happen.  Right now it wouldn't be worthwhile,
> though, because no one with deep pockets is supporting Ogg.
>   
You misunderstand. If Vorbis v1.3 (say) infringes a (submarine or 
otherwise) patent, the next version, e.g. v2.0, will be changed such 
that it does not. You just won't be able to play v1.3 files on a v2.0 
player. Depending on what the infringement is, it may be possible to 
build a converter without loss of quality. That converter may itself 
infringe patents, however. In practical terms, that would be less of a 
problem than mp3-like format patents.
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