• arglebargle
    link
    fedilink
    English
    51 year ago

    MPEG LA is (now Via Licensing Alliance) has been active in collecting fees and defending patents. There is no reason to assume they won’t go after distros, particularly those who can pay given that they are willing to take on anyone else. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_LA

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      11 year ago

      They have never gone after said distros all those many many years they have bundled licensed codecs in their ISOs. What changed?

      • arglebargle
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Because those distros have (as we are talking about) distanced themselves from the patent encumbered codecs? When Google tried to get behind VP8, MPEG LA was right there to try and stop them by trying to get them into the pool.

        Edit: I should have said many didn’t Fedora opted out of compiling mesa with hardware accell, and it seems others did too recently. But that means it was there the whole time. I guess most distros, that have any money, are going to want shelter from lawsuits.