[asterisk-users] Patent issues, what features we can't use?

[Zeeshan Zakaria]

Hi everybody,

As the Asterisk community is getting larger and larger, I was wondering that
the features which are provided in Asterisk and are programmed by the open
source community under GPL, or GUIs like FreePBX which also come loaded with
wonderful features and uses same Asterisk, are they anywhere violating any
patent laws? Most of the features work the same way as Nortel, Avaya and
other PBX systems. Is there anyone who owns these features and will come one
day to claim his royalties?

When I deploy an asterisk soultion for a customer, is there any violation of
any patent or copyright laws anywhere? Of if I use my own Asterisk server to
provide services to some customers, am I violating any patent laws by not
paying the royalties to some patent owners?

I heard people saying that IVR technology is patented and google search for
patents also say so. But we all are using IVR for ourselves and our
customers without paying royalties to anyone. But when it comes to using
g729, all of a sudden royalty issue comes in.

So what is right to use and what is not?

-- 
Zeeshan A Zakaria
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