[Asterisk-Users] Free G.729 ready for download

[usedcanon]

Hi All,

I consider the License fee charged by digium for G.729 as very reasonable,
and hope people agree and do nothing to jeopardize this project.

Right now I don't use G.729 at all, however if and when I do, I have no
reason
to seek an alternative to what Digium provides. At the very least I would be
confident that I am in no way breaking the law, and have the satisfaction of
have contributed back to the product, be it in a very small way.


Umar

-----Original Message-----
From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com
[mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com]On Behalf Of Mark
Spencer
Sent: 25 September 2004 22:13
To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion
Cc: Danny Zak
Subject: Re: [Asterisk-Users] Free G.729 ready for download


Regardless of whether or not you have licensed G.729 from SIPRO
independently of Digium, the distribution of the codec, linked against
Intel's proprietary IPP library, is clearly and totally in direct
violation of the terms of the GPL.  There is no room for argument on this
issue.

We are doing our best to mitigate the situation by removing the link to
the illegal software from the list, and I ask that no more members on the
list post any URL's to illegal software.

Setting aside the extreme tackiness of using our own mailing list to post
illegal software, I am nothing short of appalled to see an Asterisk user
taking advantage of our hard work and then producing a product to
circumvent the very revenue stream which makes it possible for us to do so
and to offer the LEGAL licensing of G.729 to the community.

Digium has worked hard to produce Free Software for building a phone
system and we have released EVERYTHING we've done under GPL or other open
source license, with the exception of the items we are not permitted to
make available under that license.  For G.729 specificially we have had
to make a large investment to make that possible.  The GPL DOES provide
certain requirements for anyone distributing Asterisk code or derivative
works, however and this unlicensed version is clearly in violation of
those obligations.

Why on earth would we try make the even larger investment for legal
G.723.1 if people are just going to break the law and violate the GPL in
order to save a few bucks?

If you don't like G.729 because of the patent and licensing issues, then
don't use it, but if you do want to use G.729, please use it legally, by
purchasing the Digium licenses, not by breaking the terms of the GPL and
putting yourself at risk of well established patents (especially if you
are in a country which honors software patents, since the GPL passes that
patent responsibility back to you as the end user).

We are happy to make Asterisk available to the community and to continue
to work hard to expand and develop the product further, but it also
demands a certain level of discipline from the users at large.  Before you
download the "free", illegal GPL-violation version of the G.729 codec,
remember that in doing so you are directly jeopardizing the project at
large and our ability to continue to provide these sorts of features.

Mark

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004, Steve Underwood wrote:

> Danny Zak wrote:
>
>> Hello TELUX,
>>
>> could anybody post something more about being legaly correct using
>> this codec and the corresponding "royalty's".
>>
> It is very difficult to be legally correct with this. The IP holders don't
> have simple programs for selling licences in small quantities. If you buy
> licences from Digium, they deal with the IP issues on a larger volume
basis.
> Unless you want to deploy thousands of copies, I doubt you can find a sane
> legal arrangement for doing it.
>
> Regards,
> Steve
>
> _______________________________________________
> Asterisk-Users mailing list
> Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
> http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
> To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
>  http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
>
_______________________________________________
Asterisk-Users mailing list
Asterisk-Users at lists.digium.com
http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users
To UNSUBSCRIBE or update options visit:
   http://lists.digium.com/mailman/listinfo/asterisk-users