The Monday 2005-05-02 at 14:20 +0100, Stephen Boddy wrote:
On Monday 02 May 2005 12:25, Carlos E. R. wrote:
Do I understand correctly that it is not legal in the US for SuSE users to listen to mp3, but it is for european users?
Do you have more info on this (a link for further reading, perhaps)? I think SuSE should have told us Europeans buyers why mp3 did not work any longer, and how we could solve it. A product that sells worldwide should give this kind of info in an easy to find place (like the printed book). Multimedia is announced in the box.
It's because the process of encoding and decoding mp3's are covered by software patents. In the US these are enforcable, whilst they are not (theoretically) in the EU.
Not being a lawyer, nor versed in "foreign law" I'm thoroughly confused by all this O:-) - but as previous SuSE versions supported listening to mp3 files, I thought the patent applied to creating such files, nor listening to them. I don't remember having to pay patent fees to build my own radio years ago. Maybe listening to music I paid for is different. I must be getting dumb.
It could well be mentioned on the Novell/SuSE website, but since the buyout Novell have turned that into an obtuse exercise into frustration.
I should be printed in paper, in the outside of the box, actually.
A few of the reviews have highlighted this issue and the solution. Of course there is nothing to stop a US citizen downloading the additional packages, but they take on the legal responsibility themselves.
As I said, not being a lawyer, I don't know unless told in plain words, by them (SuSE); and the comments on the "/Multimedia-Option-Pack-1" say nothing of the sort before downloading. See: Shortdescription.german: Multimedia Option Pack 1 Shortdescription.english: Multimedia Option Pack 1 Longdescription.english: Multimedia Option Pack 1 Nothing more... it does not say anything about "maybe being illegal in some countries". And, actually, those words should be in Spanish to be legally binding for me :-p -- Cheers, Carlos Robinson