Royalty free gstreamer plug-in

[Sean]

On Fri, December 23, 2005 11:26 am, Patrick Barnes said:

> You've almost got it right.  The GPL self-terminates without patent
> freedom.  This means that if you don't have patent rights, you don't have
> copyrights either.  With the MIT license, you still have copyrights even
> if you don't have patent rights.  The problem is that we would still need
> patent rights for MP3 technology to build, use and distribute this MP3
> plugin.  Also, this solution is GPL-incompatible, meaning we can't
> integrate this plugin with GPL software.
>

Hmmm I don't pretend to understand this stuff, but the GPL text seems
pretty clear on this matter:

"For example, if a patent license would not permit royalty-free
redistribution of the Program by all those who receive copies directly or
indirectly through you, then the only way you could satisfy both it and
this License would be to refrain entirely from distribution of the
Program."

So the only question is, is the gstreamer mp3 plugin patent free or not?

Sean