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

[Steve Underwood]

On 10/05/2013 01:32 AM, Darryl Moore wrote:
> I'll explain.
>
> The g.729 compression algorithm is not protected by copyright, though
> specific instances may be. It is protected by a patent.
>
> http://www.sipro.com/G-729.html
>
> An open source version is available here:
>
> http://asterisk.hosting.lv/
>
> What stops you from using this, or even your own implementation isn't
> copyright, but patent protection. It is the right to use the patented
> technology that you are licensing, not the particular copyrighted coded
> that implements it.
The G.729 codec software at http://asterisk.hosting.lv/actually uses a 
codec implementation copyrighted by Intel. You need to obey their 
copyright conditions.
> Here you will find the various G.729 patents which were all granted in
> 1996.
>
> https://www.itu.int/ITU-T/recommendations/related_ps.aspx?id_prod=3334
>
>
> I had thought these expired next year because I was thinking patents
> were only 18 years. Turns out they are now 20 years, so they really do
> not expire til some time in 2016. My bad.
If you use G.729A (which practically everyone does) I think there are 
one or two patent which run beyond 2016, at least in the US.
> So in countries that honour software patents, you need to have a license
> until some time in 2016. In countries which do not, you are free to use
> these open source codes now.
What have the essential patents relevant to G.729 got to do with 
software patents?
>
> cheers.
>
> On Fri, 2013-10-04 at 15:55 +0200, Olivier wrote:
>
>
>>          
>> Hmmmm, I'm not sure how g729 licence and software patents relate to
>> each other.
Regards,
Steve