On Fri, Aug 30, 2002 at 10:31:23AM -0400, Joe Drew wrote:
> On Fri, 2002-08-30 at 10:16, Robert Millan wrote:
> > currently non-US is the only place where it can be without breaking law.
>
> This is incorrect: mp3 patents exist in non-US places too, like Germany.
we definitely need an mp3 decoder in debian if we want to fight the
patent oppression at all. i think we need another branch for that kind
of problems.
> > having mp3 players in non-free would still be illegal. mpg321 is free
> > software that complies to DFSG and there's no reason to put it in
> > non-free or non-free/non-US.
>
> If fraunhofer say that you are allowed to distribute mp3 players for
> free (but not for cost), then they must be put in non-free. And since
> they have patents all around the world, they can't be put in non-us.
yes, but only non-free in states that impose patent restrictions. if we
have such "non-patented" branch it would be free for users outside the circle.
--
Robert Millan
"5 years from now everyone will be running
free GNU on their 200 MIPS, 64M SPARCstation-5"
Andrew S. Tanenbaum, 30 Jan 1992
