Please comment on this statement about Opus from Matt Jordan, the project leader for the Asterisk project.
Regards, /Olle Vidarebefordrat brev: > Från: Matthew Jordan <[email protected]> > Ämne: Re: [asterisk-dev] Opus and VP8 > Datum: 29 maj 2013 20:55:58 CEST > Till: [email protected] > Svara till: Asterisk Developers Mailing List <[email protected]> > > On 05/25/2013 05:19 AM, Hans Witvliet wrote: >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Olle E. Johansson <[email protected]> >> Reply-to: Asterisk Developers Mailing List >> <[email protected]> >> To: Asterisk Developers Mailing List <[email protected]> >> Cc: Olle E. Johansson <[email protected]> >> Subject: Re: [asterisk-dev] Opus and VP8 >> Date: Fri, 24 May 2013 13:26:29 +0200 >> >> >> 24 maj 2013 kl. 12:51 skrev Lorenzo Miniero <[email protected]>: >> >>> PS: a few months ago I also talked, on the #asterisk-dev IRC, about >>> the support I added for both Opus (transcoding) and VP8 (passthrough) >>> in Asterisk, codecs that are currently the default ones used in >>> WebRTC. I checked whether there was an interest in a patch for them, >>> but at the time there were some concerns about the copyright status of >>> Opus that prevented it to be considered for integration in Asterisk. >>> Has this situation changed in the meanwhile? I can open a separate >>> thread for this if needed. >>> >> Lorenzo, >> >> >> Good seeing you here! >> >> >> Due to legal issues I don't think Digium can accept a contribution of >> Opus and VP8 in the svn repositories today. >> >> >> I would encourage you, if you have these patches, to publish them on a >> web site like github or sourceforge so w all can help you test it. I >> really would like for these to be available for the community in an easy >> form. >> > > <snip> > > Hello! I'm going to comment here specifically to clarify Digium's > position on Opus and VP8 as codecs and their inclusion in Asterisk. > > To start, pass through support in the form of a format module is fine > for both Opus and VP8. It involves no transcoding and hence cannot > violate any claims against their technology. We'd be happy to see format > modules in Asterisk. > > VP8 is the easier of the two to clarify. A codec for VP8 is probably not > appropriate, regardless of any patent or IPR issues. Asterisk doesn't > perform video transcoding. Video transcoding is an intensive operation > that performs poorly without hardware augmentation. We've always taken > the stance that software video transcoding in Asterisk would cause more > problems then it would solve; as such, VP8 as a codec is best left > outside of Asterisk. > > The real question is: what about Opus? > > Before that, a word about the American patent system. > > The American patent system has devolved into what can only be charitably > described as mafia-inspired extortion. Non-practicing entities (NPEs) > are groups of lawyers who have not and never will produce, market, or > sell a product. The only actions they perform are filing infringement > claims against businesses and individuals, regardless of whether or not > that business or individual actually violates a patent, with the sole > purpose of extracting as much money out of said business or individual > as they can. The cost of fighting these claims is enormous. The cost of > losing a fight against even one of these claims is crippling. The NPEs > know this. Technical merit, logic, rationale, or any kind of morality > has no applicability here: these folks exist solely to find new and more > creative ways to make claims against you and take your money. > > They'd be happy to put you out of business in the process. > > Back to Opus. > > There are several IPRs filed against Opus with the unfortunate licensing > declaration of "Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory License to All > Implementers with Possible Royalty/Fee." These IPRs have not been > clarified, and the entities making these claims have not moved one way > or the other regarding their claims. If any one of these entities > decides to play the NPE game (see: Alcatel-Lucent), they could crush > Digium like a bug. They could go after every user, integrator, and > developer of Asterisk as well. It has the potential of spelling the end > of the Asterisk project. The risk of this unfortunately does not justify > the inclusion of Opus as a codec in Asterisk. > > Question: I am a user, integrator, and developer of Asterisk that does > not work for Digium. Since Digium holds the copyright of Asterisk, how > am I at risk? > > Answer: I have no idea. I do know that logic and reasoning does not > apply where patents are concerned. Caveat emptor. > > Question: Asterisk is an open source project. Doesn't that protect me > somehow? > > Answer: No. The GPLv2 specifically states "that any patent must be > licensed for everyone's free use or not licensed at all". There are > additional sections that further explain how patents affect software > licensed under GPLv2; suffice to say that the sections exist to protect > the freedom of the software; not to protect you from patent trolls. > > Question: If all of this is true, why does Google, Mozilla, Xiph.org, > and others implement Opus? > > Answer: They either have an army of lawyers, are willing to roll the > dice on their future, or are ignorant of how the patent system works. > > Question: This is messed up. If all of this is true, how can we ever > innovate in areas where patents have ever been filed? > > Answer: You can't. The system is broken. > > Question: What can I do about it? > > Answer: Contact your government officials. Complain. The only way this > situation will get fixed is if the laws are changed. Note that there is > at least one bill being brought up in the U.S. Senate to address these > exact deficiencies in the American patent system (and possibly more in > the House); if you are a U.S. citizen I highly recommend you contact > your elected Senators/Representatives and express your opinion(s). > > I hope this helps everyone understand why we've made our decision. We > all hope that this situation changes in the near future, but until then, > we'll have to limit our support of these codecs in Asterisk to > pass-through only. > > Thanks > > Matt > > -- > Matthew Jordan > Digium, Inc. | Engineering Manager > 445 Jan Davis Drive NW - Huntsville, AL 35806 - USA > Check us out at: http://digium.com & http://asterisk.org > _______________________________________________ codec mailing list [email protected] https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/codec
