I wrote: > Personally, I would be little more inclined to rely on the continued > availability of royalty-free open-source Ogg/Vorbis encoders than > their MP3 equivalents without some indication that someone competent > is on record as to the basis for a reasonable belief that they do not > infringe the Fraunhofer suite.
In case it seemed otherwise: I am very much pro-Ogg/Vorbis. I am not particularly pro-software-patents but I am not under the illusion that the MP3 patents have less traction in the world's major legal systems than numerous others which have been litigated successfully by their holders. I have recently become aware of the details of the "duty of due care" standard apparently last modified by the Federal Circuit court in Knorr-Bremse v. Dana (2004), and while I am not aware of any personal risk to myself, it would be nice to know what there is to know about the state of the state, so to speak. Cheers, - Michael (IANAL, TINLA)
