Fedora's way forward

[Alan Cox]

On Tue, Mar 28, 2006 at 10:57:40AM -0500, Eric S. Raymond wrote:
> Yes, I'd like to see an authoritative source for Alan's assertion.

US patent law would be a good start

> I did quite a bit of web research before making my statement.  If
> Fraunhofer has made claims on decoders, this fact is unknown (or not
> disclosed) by any of the major decoder implementors.

Patents don't work like trademarks. Unless permission is given if a patent
covers the right to use that feature in the USSA then the patent owner can
decide to enforce the patent whenver they like.  They might lose the ability
to get injunctions for it but given the curren use of patent law is to allow
small legal firms to steal from innovators and producers they normally just
want the cash.

So either you invalidate the patent or you get written documentation from
the patent owner giving you permission.

Alan