[Open-graphics] Re: Patents (was: Re: Decoding HD mpeg)

[Lance Hanlen]

On 9/6/06, Lourens Veen <lourens at rainbowdesert.net> wrote:
> On Tuesday 05 September 2006 19:47, Lance Hanlen wrote:
> > On 9/5/06, Lourens Veen <lourens at rainbowdesert.net> wrote:
> > > On Thursday 31 August 2006 19:51, Lance Hanlen wrote:
> > > > I realized you're absolutely right to be suspicious of patents.
> > >
> > > As an additional argument:
> > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5312696.stm
> >
> > This is extremely interesting! I have often pontificated that any
> > algorithm can be "improved" past its patented version. If these guys
> > really did find a way to beat the MP3 standard, and they can win, all
> > our patent worries are over! We just keep improving things :D
>
> Well, that's one of the points of the patent system. The problem is that
> many patents (probably including the MP3 ones) start with very broad
> claims that will never hold up anyway (e.g. "apparatus for representing
> data representing audio in a compact manner") and then narrow it down
> to more specific claims about how they do that. The patent office
> accepts these patents, and anyone infringing them by doing more or less
> the same in a different manner will first have to go to court to get a
> judge to dismiss the broader claims, possibly uphold the narrower
> claims, and then decide whether the new implementation infringes upon
> the claims that are left. That takes a lot of time and money...
>
> Lourens
>
>
>
I read somewhere that the first corporations were formed so that
people could build a bridge to cross a river. Things have changed, and
I don't think patents are going to be very important in their original
mandate to restrict intellectual property. In any case, I don't think
there's any danger in developing MPEG4 and Theora codecs. There won't
be any patent issues that can't be overcome.

-- 
Lance