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

[Zeeshan Zakaria]

Thanks Mark for your detailed email. I have no plan to hide. I am in
business and am ready to face any challenges. Just wanted to know where I
stand if it comes to deal with patent issues, because there are companies
out there who are going thorough this issue once they started to make good
profits. But thats right, one can' t do any business if he starts to worry
about patent issues. Whatever you want to do, someone else has already
patended it. You can always verify it on google patents search.

On 8/15/07, Mark Coccimiglio <n3whx at amsat.org> wrote:
>
> Zeeshan,
> First off, if your fear of being sued is what stops you from doing
> business then get out of the industry or get over it.  Its a risk we all
> take everyday (not just in VoIP).  You build up a core of Insurance and
> "Defensive Patents" to protect yourself.  Risk is just part of doing
> business.  Elements of the Asterisk that are "clearly" incompatible with
> the Dual License model are not included in the regular distribution.
> You "may" find them as add-on modules or in Trunk (If it supports a free
> development/education license) but not as a part of the "regular
> distribution".
>
> To address the real issue... In the USA in recent years companies have
> been granted "broadly worded" patents. People at the patent office are
> clerks and not engineers.  Plus, they have to deal with ALL INDUSTRY
> (e.g. Medical, Aviation, Computer Science, Earth Science, Early
> Childhood Development, Mining, Agriculture, Automotive, Maritime,
> Textile, Nuclear Physics, Beauticare, Electronics, Chemistry, Mechanics,
> Pharmaceutical, etc...etc...etc...)  not just Telecom.  It is quite
> literally impossible to understand enough about everything to make clear
> judgments as to what is truly patentable and what is not.  The patent
> office position is basically "Spell it out to us and let the courts
> figure out the rest."  While most "broadly worded" patents are
> unenforceable it still takes a legal process to get the patents
> dismissed as "too vague".   That process can be VERY costly for the
> person sued as well as the suer (sp).  For a large telecom is all just
> part of the cost of doing business.  Most smaller companies (e.g. us
> guys) are forced to settle because we haven't the millions of dollars
> needed to defend ourselves.
>
> Now that being said where does the g729 patent (and the like) fit in?  A
> patent like g729 is actually VERY specific about what it does and how to
> do it.  Sure its a "software patent" but there is little room in the
> wording about what it accomplishes, by what means and the limitations of
> the patent.  Plus the price is very reasonable at $10/channel
> (non-transcoding pass through requires no License).  Additionally, g729
> is not the only game in town when it comes to low-bandwidth codecs.
> (Personally I like to use g726-32 its lightweight and transcodes to/from
> uLaw easily...but I digress).  This varies from some other software
> patents for "One-Click-Checkout" or "Online Shopping Cart".  They are
> both patented and every challenge has been settled out of court, thus
> they still stand a viable patents.
>
> Ultimately the question comes down to..."Do you want to stay home and
> hide or would you rather come out and play?"
>
> Just my input,
> Mark C.
>
> Zeeshan Zakaria wrote:
>
> > 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
>
>
> --
> As I slowly sip my coffee I feel my humanity start to slip back into me
> and realize what a foul beast humanity really is.
>
>
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-- 
Zeeshan A Zakaria
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