|
Home > Archive > Debian Developers > June 2007 > Could someone clarify this...
You are viewing an archived Text-only version of the thread.
To view this thread in it's original format and/or if you want to reply to
this thread please [click here]
| Author |
Could someone clarify this...
|
|
| Kevin Mark 2007-06-29, 1:22 am |
| Hi,
I was just reading an interview[0] of someone from the 'Freetype' project
and he said:
....
Also, I still don't understand why Debian and Ubuntu keep distributing
patent-infringing code in FreeType, while they keep MP3 and DVD playback
out of their normal installs. I'm not even sure it's DFSG compliant...
....
Cheers,
K
[0] http://osnews.com/story.php/18166/I...er-of-Freetype/
--
| .''`. == Debian GNU/Linux == | my web site: |
| : :' : The Universal |mysite.verizon.net/kevin.mark/|
| `. `' Operating System | go to counter.li.org and |
| `- http://www.debian.org/ | be counted! #238656 |
| my keyserver: subkeys.pgp.net | my NPO: cfsg.org |
|join the new debian-community.org to help Debian! |
|_______ Unless I ask to be CCd, assume I am subscribed _______|
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
| |
| Ben Finney 2007-06-29, 1:22 am |
| Kevin Mark <kevin.mark@verizon.net> writes:
> Hi,
> I was just reading an interview[0] of someone from the 'Freetype' project
> and he said:
> ...
> Also, I still don't understand why Debian and Ubuntu keep distributing
> patent-infringing code in FreeType, while they keep MP3 and DVD playback
> out of their normal installs. I'm not even sure it's DFSG compliant...
> ...
Almost any interesting program, free software or otherwise, infringes
some unknown, non-zero number of registered software idea patents. If
that were the only criterion for a software work to fail the DFSG,
Debian would be pretty much empty.
My understanding is that Debian declares a work non-free if a holder
of a software idea patent is *actively enforcing* a patent that covers
the work, such that Debian cannot distrigute the work as free
software.
Fraunhofer has a track record of actively enforcing software idea
patents against the algorithms in MP3 encoding software. Thus, such
works cannot be redistributed as DFSG-free software by Debian.
Ditto the DVD-CCA actively enforcing against DeCSS.
I don't know whether that is true for any of the software idea patents
that cover FreeType.
--
\ "Somebody told me how frightening it was how much topsoil we |
`\ are losing each year, but I told that story around the campfire |
_o__) and nobody got scared." -- Jack Handey |
Ben Finney
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
| |
| Fabian Greffrath 2007-06-30, 7:31 am |
| > My understanding is that Debian declares a work non-free if a holder
> of a software idea patent is *actively enforcing* a patent that covers
> the work, such that Debian cannot distrigute the work as free
> software.
Is there a known case where a holder actively enforces a patent that covers MPEG-4 video encoding?
I am asking, because x264 has been removed out of the Debian archive and there are video codecs disabled in Debian's FFMPEG...
Cheers,
Fabian
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
| |
| Don Armstrong 2007-06-30, 1:20 pm |
| On Sat, 30 Jun 2007, Fabian Greffrath wrote:
>
> Is there a known case where a holder actively enforces a patent that
> covers MPEG-4 video encoding? I am asking, because x264 has been
> removed out of the Debian archive and there are video codecs
> disabled in Debian's FFMPEG...
Search for "MPEG LA patent litigation", for starters.
Don Armstrong
--
A Democracy lead by politicians and political parties, fails.
http://www.donarmstrong.com http://rzlab.ucr.edu
--
To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-REQUEST@lists.debian.org
with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmaster@lists.debian.org
|
|
|
|
|