[asterisk-users] is g729 codec free? or under license???

[Steve Underwood]

Hi Jeff,

On 04/08/2014 12:13 PM, Jeff Brower wrote:
> Darrel- The G729 essential patents were *granted* in 1996, but applied 
> for prior to June 8 1995. That means their lifespan is either 20 years 
> from their application date, or 17 years from their grant date, 
> whichever is greater (http://www.uspto.gov/main/faq/p120013.htm). 
> Either way, they expire in 2014. -Jeff 
Where did you get the cutoff date of June 8 1995, and how does 20 years 
from that date lead to the last of the patents expiring in 2014? Nobody 
uses G.729. They use G.729A. The G.729A spec is somewhat later than the 
original G.729, but I don't know if there are any additional patents 
which specifically relate to Annex A. You could use G.729 instead, but 
it roughly doubles the compute needed.

There are various things on the web saying the last of the patents on 
G.723.1, which was around in draft form long before G.729, expires in 
2014. However, there seem to be patents related to that codec which 
don't really expire until some time in 2015. Its really hard to find 
solid information. The ITU patent database rarely identifies the actual 
patents being claimed, so its damned hard to look them up.

Regards,
Steve