Bonum Certa Men Certa

MPEG-LA Codecs and Microsoft Racketeering Challenge the Redistributability of Linux

Eye of the beholder



Summary: The zero-cost advantage of Android is harmed by the advancement of software patents courtesy of patent aggressors like Microsoft and the patent troll-led MPEG-LA

THE OIN grows rapidly, but its expansion as of late included more controversial companies whose policies are in conflict with Free software but not with OIN's perspective. Here is Fluendo joining:



Fluendo, the leading multimedia software development company and GStreamer expert, today announced its decision to join OIN as a licensee and to adhere to its obligations under the OIN licensing agreement.

Being an active part in the development of multimedia software based on open source technologies, and also as one of the most important contributors to GStreamer, the de-facto open source multimedia framework for Unix/Linux operating systems, Fluendo decided to join Open Source Network’s efforts to create a supportive ecosystem that ensures the growth and adoption of Linux.


GStreamer could become obsolete if dependence on MPEG-LA was to be ceased [1, 2, 3]. We are slowly getting there as more companies (including Google) override or circumvent MPEG-LA, which is headed by a patent troll [1, 2, 3, 4]. OIN may still be necessary as a temporary fallback.

Fluendo's relationship with software patents makes its place at the OIN rather unique and according to the GPL violations guru, there is already an Android patent fee injection:

It is always surprising what kind of things the industry is coming up with ;)

Here at ELCE, ST-Ericsson has just presented how they replaced OpenCore with gstreamer as the supplier/provider of multimedia encoding/decoding to the Android software stack.

This is definitely an interesting technical solution - probably one that makes sense if you have existing gstreamer modules/drivers.


These companies are damaging the zero cost of Free software-based platforms and this cost issue is often an essential ingredient of redistribution rights (which the GPL depends on, although it depends what the payments are made for). But by far the biggest elephant in this room is Microsoft, which is still trying to claim other people's code to be its own, using dubious and/or unnamed software patents. In Techrights -- under the "Boycott Novell" banner -- we have warned about this since 2006 when Novell opened those floodgates after it had voluntarily approached Microsoft with its warchest of software patents.

Microsoft to charge royalty fees to prevent Acer, Asustek from using Android in netbooks, say Taiwan makers



Microsoft plans to impose royalty fees on Taiwan-based vendors of Android handsets for using its patents in e-mail, multimedia and other functions, with Acer and Asustek Computer being targets in an actual attempt to prevent the two vendors from adopting Android and Chrome OS for their netbook and tablet PCs, according to Taiwan-based makers.


Microsoft already uses that as FUD at the very least. This type of racketeering [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7] has led Red Hat's Jan Wildeboer to saying quite provocatively: "Microsoft - from SW company to Patent Troll?"

Technically, Microsoft will become a patent troll when it just kills Vista Phony 7 [sic] like it killed "KIN". Then, at least in the mobile space (not as a whole), Microsoft would be seen as non-practising entity.

Our reader David, who hopes to spread freedom in his country by developing Free software (GNU Telephony), wrote yesterday: "Some say Microsoft doesn't innovate. In fact Microsoft has innovated plagiarism by patenting other people's ideas."

"This amounts to strong admission by Microsoft they can no longer compete on product, quality or service," writes Georg Greve in response to the report above. Greve is the founder of the FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe) and his successor, Karsten Gerloff, writes:

welfare-to-work for lawyers?


Georg Greve has told me about the FSFE's work to stop software patents: "You'll find some information on FSFE's home page ... Much work in early years was done through FFII though."

Yes, the FFII is still doing a fantastic job and it is the main force in Europe that battles against software patents and thus protects both proprietary and freedom-respecting software makers in Europe. In general, software patents hurt software developers, not just Free/libre open source software developers.

Mobbyists still lobby for software patents over at Identi.ca, only to be smacked down by Georg Greve and others who are at least partly affiliated with the FSFE (which the mobbyist paid to be seen as associated with). As Greve puts it, "Software patenting fails the economic criteria for patenting defined by WIPO. So a economic rationale, not pro-monopoly dogma." This whole discussion over there is amusing and the side which favours software patents comes from a company that fed Acacia with software patents. It is worse than what Samsung has been doing. No wonder quite a few people in Identi.ca have publicly and vocally blocked this mobbyist, whom they call "a troll".

Recent Techrights' Posts

They Made Technology Scary and Taught Us That It's Innocent, Friendly, Even "Social"
Rejection of all this "apps" and "gadgets" and "Smart" (whatever that means!) status quo isn't a rejection of society
 
Summer Plans in Techrights and Elsewhere
massive layoffs at Microsoft
Explaining the Full Story of SLAPPs From Microsoft Staff
For every action there is a reaction, for every attack there will be proportionate consequences
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part III: IRS and Status of OSI
"They lied to the US IRS and there’s a paper trail"
IBM Red Hat's Dogmatic Fanaticism Under a Thin Veil of "Modernism"
IBM now has the audacity to paint people who don't agree as "nazis"
Microsoft's Share in Guatemala Fell From 97% to 14%
Eventually Microsoft will get stuck in a loop of layoffs, layoffs, and more layoffs
The Media is Under Attacks Partly Because There's Little Other (Remaining) Press to Speak in Its Defence
The biggest danger here is that when there's very little press or no "opposition media" left it becomes even easier to crush critics because there aren't many people left to speak about the matter
If Your Web Site is Run by Bots, Eventually Nobody Will 'Read' It Except Bots (People Don't Want to Read Slop)
Eventually people learn from mistakes
Links 29/06/2025: Microsoft Releases False/Fake Benchmarks, "Google Wants You to Watch Ads or Take Surveys to Read Articles"
Links for the day
Links 29/06/2025: Data Breaches and Online Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/06/2025: "The Price Of Eggs" and Gemini 3D Tic Tac Toe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 28, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 28, 2025
The "News" You Saw About Canonical is Misleading, It Made Only 18 Million Dollars Last Year and Barely Paid Any Taxes
Lies are the norm these days...
Pushing Wayland Using Straw Man Arguments
phoronix.com has long promoted the talking point of "Wayland people" (for at least a decade already)
Australia: Windows Fell to All-Time Low, Even Lower Than iOS
There's a good reason why next week there will be so many Microsoft layoffs
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, WebProNews, and Google News Boosting Slopfarms as 'News'
People who don't recognise the slopfarms and don't know which sites are fake would struggle to understand what's really going on
Links 28/06/2025: Hardware/GPU Wars, GAFAM Throws Money (Borrowed Cash) at Hopeless Slop Pipe Dream
Links for the day
Gemini Links 28/06/2025: Shellshock and Network UPS Tools
Links for the day
Links 28/06/2025: The Age of Integrity and FreeBSD Foundation Added John Baldwin as Board Member
Links for the day
Fedora 44
IBM now does to Fedora what it did to RHEL
Microsoft Already Shaved Off Costs Anywhere It Could. It Was Not Enough.
Office and Windows aren't "selling" (licences) like they used to
Scheduled Maintenance Next Week
Our community is alive and well
BetaNews: We're Publishing LLM Slop About LLM Slop
Beta version of a slopfarm?
3-Month Updates on Our Complaint to the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA)
In short, the complaint remains open, updated, and is advancing
IBM Red States Hat (Project 2025): Our "New Thing" Replaces This "Old Thing"
The new replaces the old. That's how IBM frames it.
Start X
Just because something is old does not mean it is bad
Slopwatch: Linuxsecurity, Google News Slopfarms, and Linux Journal (LJ)
Today we take a quick look at 3 slopfarms
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 27, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 27, 2025
Links 28/06/2025: "CC Signals" Virtue-Signals to Slop Ponzi Schemes, North Korea Aims for Tourism
Links for the day
Links 27/06/2025: International Tensions and Contentions Over Plagiarism Perfumed as "Hey Hi" and "Fair Use"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/06/2025: Poetry and Censorship by Social Control Media Centralisation
Links for the day
Links 27/06/2025: Journalists Under Fire and Microsoft Has Serious Slop Problems
Links for the day
X is Dying, But Not XServer/X11. Twitter X.com is Dying.
People or businesses or government officials (and departments) that still rely on Social Control Media are playing Russian Roulette with their future online
Wayland is About Less Choice, About Removing Choices, It's Not About Freedom
IBM insists that it cares about "diversity"
Keeping Things Accessible
Gemini Protocol seems to be growing
Escaping Colonialism (or 'Hegemony') Requires Abandoning GAFAM, Microsoft in Particular
Europe is already in the process of abandoning Microsoft
Microsoft Will Shut Down More Studios This Week, Its Media Operatives Will Tell Lies About the Magnitude of the Shutdowns and Layoffs (They Always Do)
Many people who get counted as "workforce" are "temps" or similar
Not Much Better Than LLM Slop: Linux Foundation-Funded 'News' Site Writes Linux Foundation 'News', Composed by Linux Foundation Operative, Quoting Linux Foundation Staff
...they get paid (sponsored) to produce this spam. Then they call it "journalism".
What Linux Foundation 'Research' is: Paid Marketing
What is Linux Foundation 'Research'?
Annual Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE 22x) 'Bought' by Microsoft and Microsoft Exceeded Sponsorship Limits by Giving Double the Maximum Permitted Amount
When people get bribed they tend to forget how to utter a simple word: "No."
No, IBM Does Not Care About People With Disabilities
"Aktion T4" did not seem to bother Watson
Microsoft's Financial Problems Mean Shutdowns, Not Just Mass Layoffs
If the original rumour is true, then expect almost 30,000 Microsoft workers to be let go this year
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 26, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 26, 2025
The Netherlands: GNU/Linux Measured at All-Time High
Are any Dutch cities going to announce dumping Microsoft?
Gemini Links 27/06/2025: "Interstitial Existence" and Autocorrect
Links for the day