[Freeciv-Dev] MP3 Patent Issues

["Sam BC" <sambc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I have been investigating the patent issues surrounding MP3
encoding/decoding, and although definite answers seem hard to find, this
seems to be the general situation:

1) There is a legal situation regarding patents on MP3 encoding/decoding

2) This situation is as yet unresolved, as there is contests regarding the
public domain nature of the standard definitions. It is not likely to be
resolved for some time due to legal hurdles.

3) The situation is only relevant to coders active in America (although
vending/distributing may cause conflicts). An operation entirely contained
within, for example, Europe, and many other jurisdictions, are entirely
unaffected

That's just my attempt to distil the info. I may be wrong, but I am
completely confident on the  last point. The second point is more likely to
be incorrect, but it was gathered from various sources.

Hope that helps.


SamBC
The Movement for simpleLinux    https://sourceforge.net/projects/simpleLinux/
          site soon to be at    http://simplelinux.sourceforge.net