OT: Media format patents and commercial installations

[Rahul Sundaram]

On Fri, 2006-05-26 at 08:00 +1000, David Timms wrote:
> Hi all,
> 
> I am interested in building FC5 based installations for commercial sale. 
> One of the requirements is the capability to play back media of as many 
> types as possible (eg using mplayer/xine/vlc). While Fedora core/extras 
> can't contain patent encumbered nor non-open source software, in general 
> terms is there anything to stop me selling such a box ?
> 

Nothing stops you from modifying Fedora and including non-free software
for OEM systems. Trademark guidelines do not allow this system to be
called Fedora anymore though.  There has been discussions in fedora-
marketing list about this

> eg. for mpeg2 / 4 playback I could use the various libraries available. 
> Does anyone know if other parties have been able to negotiate with the 
> patent holders (I guess MPEG) individual licenses for linux machines ? 
> Is it hideously expensive ?
> 
> Unfortunately, while most media content that I would need to be played 
> is made available from outside sources as mpeg2 files or DVDVideo discs 
> (non-encrypted), I can definitely see the advantages in the non-patented 
> formats eg ogg / ogm. Losing quality in converting to different formats 
> wouldn't seem to make sense ?
> 
>  From the other viewpoint, is there mature ogg/ogm open-source plugins 
> for adobe premiere or wm coders that I could supply to these outside 
> content creators (on winOS) and hence have the original media in open 
> format to start with ?
> 
> I welcome any comments from people who may have dabbled in this area.
> 
> Thanks, DaveT.
> 

Rahul