[Asterisk-Users] Re: Compiling Asterisk with G.723.1

[Tony Hoyle]

Steve Underwood wrote:

>>
> I didn't say one patent covered all the world. I said the patents on 
> codecs exist all over the world. WIPO is simplifying this a bit, but its 
> still pretty expensive to get a patent everywhere. I know of no country 
> where the key aspects of a codec cannot be patented.
> 
Outside the US you can't patent software or algorythms, and a codec is 
(usually) both of these, therefore not patentable outside the US.  This 
is what allows things like the xvid project to exist, for example, which 
breaks several US patents...  Fraunhoffer somehow apparently managed to 
get some in europe but it was never decided whether they were valid or 
not (commonly it is thought that they'd have failed under legal 
challenge as the wording of EU patent law is very clear).

Interestingly even if they decide to allow patents in Europe there's a 
clause that says you're not infringing if you're using the patent for 
compatibility reasons - that could allow an asterisk codec (since it 
needs to be compatible with the phones at the other end of the call) 
without licensing.

Basically all the world is not the US - some of us can still write code 
without a lawyer looking over our shoulders (for now).

Tony

-- 
All your code belongs to Santa

Tony Hoyle <tmh at nodomain.org>  Key ID: 104D/4F4B6917 2003-09-13
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