4 ms·

The relevant quote: >On April 23, 2017, Technicolor's mp3 licensing program for certain mp3 related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS has

The relevant quote: >On April 23, 2017, Technicolor's mp3 licensing program for certain mp3 related patents and software of Technicolor and Fraunhofer IIS has been terminated. Does this mean that you can't get a license for MP3 anymore, or are they trying to say you don't need a license anymore? Are they opening it up, or are they shutting it down?

vetinari 10y ago
You don't need licensing for mp3 decoding anymore. All the patents have expired. Even Fedora ships mp3 decoder now. There are still patents left for mp3 encoding though.
- poizan42 10y ago
  The last known decoding patent expired in 2015. That last known patent covering mp3 at all expired two weeks ago. Edit: apparently there are two patents left in relations to encoder optimizations[0] not mentioned on the wikipedia pages. Those are probably irrelevant to modern encoders on modern computers. [0]: https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3patent/ https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3pat...
  - vetinari 10y ago
    Fedora wiki says: > However, as of 2016-11-10, Fedora is now able to include MP3 decoding functionality. MP3 encoding functionality is still not permissible, because it requires patented technologies and the patent holder has not provided licenses that are compatible with Fedora's requirements. So it looks like there are some patents relevant to modern encoders.
    - poizan42 10y ago
      It probably hasn't been updated within the last two weeks... Edit: The wiki page[0] links to the Fraunhofer page[1] saying that the licensing program has been terminated... [0]: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia/MP3 https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia/MP3 [1]: http://www.mp3licensing.com/ http://www.mp3licensing.com/ which redirects to https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audiocodecs/mp3.html https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audi...
poizan42 10y ago
The very last patent expired 16 April 2017, so there wouldn't be any point in licensing expired patents.
patentsexp88 10y ago
Some patents expired and no longer require license: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and_legislation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and...
Macha 10y ago
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3 Looks like the parents have expired as of 2 weeks ago
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
bartkmq 10y ago
I think you do not need one anymore. The patent were filled in 1997, that's now 20 years ago. See: https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3patent/ https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3pat... The last two patents seem to be related to an encode optimization and are not needed to write a decoder. Which means it is possible now to include an MP3 decoder in GNU/Linux distros, etc. without paying the $2,500 fee.
- poizan42 10y ago
  I think 5,703,999 is about shifting between using joint and separated stereo for frames depending on the amount of difference between the channels to avoid cross-channel interference, this sounds like it might still be important for lower bitrate mp3s. I don't think I know the technical details well enough to comment on 5,924,060, but I'll note that it has a priority date of 1986 and publication date of 1999... good riddance to submarine patents.
  - yuhong 10y ago
    In any case, it is 17 years after publication or 20 years after filing (before 1995), meaning that both are expired.
    - poizan42 10y ago
      So the Tunequest[0] article referenced got it wrong on the last two? I have a hard time figuring out what applies and does not apply to patents filed between 1995 and 1999 [0]: http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/ http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/

vetinari 10y ago

You don't need licensing for mp3 decoding anymore. All the patents have expired. Even Fedora ships mp3 decoder now. There are still patents left for mp3 encoding though.

poizan42 10y ago
The last known decoding patent expired in 2015. That last known patent covering mp3 at all expired two weeks ago. Edit: apparently there are two patents left in relations to encoder optimizations[0] not mentioned on the wikipedia pages. Those are probably irrelevant to modern encoders on modern computers. [0]: https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3patent/ https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3pat...
- vetinari 10y ago
  Fedora wiki says: > However, as of 2016-11-10, Fedora is now able to include MP3 decoding functionality. MP3 encoding functionality is still not permissible, because it requires patented technologies and the patent holder has not provided licenses that are compatible with Fedora's requirements. So it looks like there are some patents relevant to modern encoders.
  - poizan42 10y ago
    It probably hasn't been updated within the last two weeks... Edit: The wiki page[0] links to the Fraunhofer page[1] saying that the licensing program has been terminated... [0]: https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia/MP3 https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Multimedia/MP3 [1]: http://www.mp3licensing.com/ http://www.mp3licensing.com/ which redirects to https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audiocodecs/mp3.html https://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/en/ff/amm/prod/audiocodec/audi...

poizan42 10y ago

The very last patent expired 16 April 2017, so there wouldn't be any point in licensing expired patents.

patentsexp88 10y ago

Some patents expired and no longer require license: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and_legislation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3#Licensing.2C_ownership_and...

Macha 10y ago

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MP3 Looks like the parents have expired as of 2 weeks ago

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

bartkmq 10y ago

I think you do not need one anymore. The patent were filled in 1997, that's now 20 years ago. See: https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3patent/ https://madfileformatscience.garymcgath.com/2016/0/05/mp3pat... The last two patents seem to be related to an encode optimization and are not needed to write a decoder. Which means it is possible now to include an MP3 decoder in GNU/Linux distros, etc. without paying the $2,500 fee.

poizan42 10y ago
I think 5,703,999 is about shifting between using joint and separated stereo for frames depending on the amount of difference between the channels to avoid cross-channel interference, this sounds like it might still be important for lower bitrate mp3s. I don't think I know the technical details well enough to comment on 5,924,060, but I'll note that it has a priority date of 1986 and publication date of 1999... good riddance to submarine patents.
- yuhong 10y ago
  In any case, it is 17 years after publication or 20 years after filing (before 1995), meaning that both are expired.
  - poizan42 10y ago
    So the Tunequest[0] article referenced got it wrong on the last two? I have a hard time figuring out what applies and does not apply to patents filed between 1995 and 1999 [0]: http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/ http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/