MP3 patents (was: Freerunner's Future)

[Steve Mosher]

I am somewhat constrained in what I am able to say. On one view there is 
the position,
held by some, that any hardware that is merely CAPABLE of mp3 decode is 
required
to apply for a license.  MP3 was removed from our images long ago and 
from the
repositories. The requirements of the license agreement, without going 
into details, were beyond
our financial means.


Al Johnson wrote:
> On Friday 05 June 2009, Christoph Pulster wrote:
>   
>>> It's more than welcome to see Openmoko Inc. is still very much in
>>> support of the Freerunner/GTA02 and will provide the community with
>>> support in areas like the hosting infrastructure as well as the legal
>>> side (trademarks).
>>>       
>> Please remember the patent infridgements concerning MP3 (www.sisvel.it).
>> Openmoko Inc. did not solve this issue until today.
>> As a result, all sales inside EU are patent infridgments, all reseller
>> inside EU community have to live with the fact, that local customs seize
>> their Freerunner order anytime.
>>     
>
> Openmoko removed the mp3 codecs from the images they supply, and from their 
> repositories, causing frustration for many. I don't know what image they now 
> ship with, but would be surprised if they haven't removed the mp3 codecs from 
> that too. If it doesn't contain the codec it can't infringe the patent. What 
> more do you expect them to do?
>
>
>
>
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