[wellylug] The Movie of the Month

[jumbophut]

On 3/3/06, Donald Gordon wrote:
> Is any of the stuff required to play back MPEG2 video / AC3 audio patented?
>
> Anyway, CSS wasn't patented -- it was a trade secret.
>

MPEG2 is heavily patented, but my understanding (and that of the
Debian legal folks) is that the MPEG-LA have said it's okay to decode
in software.  I think Fraunhofer have said something similar with
regard to decoding MP3 audio.  /En/coding of MPEG2 and MP3 requires
licenses (IANAL etc.).

CSS is illegal in the US because it contravenes the DMCA, which says
you cannot circumvent a copyright protection mechanism.  Australia
has, as part of its Free Trade Agreement with the US, agreed to
DMCA-type provisions.  As far as I know, this is not yet part of NZ
law.

Louise Longdin at Auckland University is something of an expert in the
area of intellectual property law as it relates to IT and has written
some stuff which is somewhere on the Auckland Uni site (no time to
search, sorry).

Anyway, we should probably move this to an NZOSS list. :-)

--
Tony (echo 'spend!,pocket awide' | sed 'y/acdeikospntw!, /l at omcgtjuba.phi/')