Jens M?ller wrote: > Craig Dickson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> writes: > > > You can't GPL an MP3 codec, > > Why not? IMO it is not copyright but patent restriction that prevent > the distribution and usage of LAME.
The restrictions of the patent, however, conflict with the requirements of the GPL. If I have a license to some patent, and I write code under that license, then if I give the code to you, you can't modify it, because the patent license is not transferable. You don't have a license, so you have no right to create or modify code based on the patent. Therefore, the code is not truly free. This means, basically, that patent-encumbered source code cannot be released under the GPL. We went over this recently on the Vorbis mailing list with RMS. Craig
