Re: What next?

[Chris Adams <cmadams hiwaay net>]

Once upon a time, Jeff Spaleta <jspaleta gmail com> said:
> If this issue was about Fraunhofers rights and responsbilities as a
> "copyright" holder to GPL code you'd be sort of right.. but the issue
> isn't about "copyrights" its about "patents".

I was basing my comments on the current state of freely (legal or not)
available MP3 decoders.  AFAIK the free decoders are all GPL.  For that
code to actually be legally distributable in some places (i.e. the US),
Fraunhofer would have to agree to a royalty-free patent license to the
copyright holder _and_ to anyone else who distributes such code under
the terms of the GPL (whether such distribution is commercial or not).
Otherwise, the code cannot be distributed at all (since a patent license
requirement conflicts with the terms of the GPL).

-- 
Chris Adams <cmadams hiwaay net>
Systems and Network Administrator - HiWAAY Internet Services
I don't speak for anybody but myself - that's enough trouble.