[MEncoder-users] Patent free codec

[Rich Felker]

On Mon, Aug 22, 2005 at 04:10:15PM +0100, Raphael wrote:
> But the thing is that there isn't actually any disagreement as far as I 
> can tell.

Yes there is.

> Theora people say that the company that held the patents has given them 
> rights to use them for free.

I agree to this. However there are a lot more relevant patents than
On2's bullshit, which are all definitely trivial and invalid.

> Mplayer people say that in general in the US you will never truely know 
> if you are safe from being sued due to all the things they describe and 
> most people agree with.

This answer comes out of liability concerns, not actual belief. If we
name any particular patent and indicate our awareness of it, many
people believe that increases our liability for using codecs that
"infringe" on it. My view is that these patents are invalid by
obviousness and prior art, but that will not protect you in court, so
I also shy away from naming particular patents. Suffice it to say,
there is more stuff patented than you could ever possibly imagine, and
I have seen lists of patents, several of which definitely would cover
VP3 if they were valid. You can search the MPlayer list archives if
you want to see my list of patents.

Rich