Josip, Not all people will have to apply for a patent license to use it, only certain people. That should qualify it for non-free, in much the same way ssh2 is in non-free because commercial users need to license it.
I realize that many Debian developers and users are in the US, so it would seem as though "all" users would have to apply for a patent license, however many != all. I, for one, live in Canada, and AFAIK, I can legally use LAME all I want, and I think it would be great to have it packaged. But... This poor dead horse has been flogged again and again, and if debian-legal doesn't think it's feasible, I'm not going to argue otherwise. ... Adam -----Original Message----- From: Josip Rodin [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Sunday, March 18, 2001 7:53 AM To: Mark Purcell; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Cc: Marcelo E. Magallon Subject: Bug#90091: ITP: lame - mp3 encoder On Sun, Mar 18, 2001 at 11:16:07PM +1100, Mark Purcell wrote: > However, personal and commercial use of compiled versions of LAME (or any > other mp3 encoder) requires a patent license in some countries. > > Which qualifies for non-free in Debian as the patent is only approved in > Germany and USA. > > Personal and commercial use of compiled versions of LAME (or any other mp3 > encoder) requires a patent license in some countries. So, you're saying we can actually distribute the sources and binaries, but once someone tries to use it, they need to arrange it with the patent holder? Somehow I don't think that will work. :| -- Digital Electronic Being Intended for Assassination and Nullification -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
