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

Drug Addiction is a Real Problem, It Destroys Families
a rather sensitive matter
 
Links 07/06/2025: Slop Companies Retain All Private Data, More Books Banned in the US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/06/2025: "A Monk's Guide to Happiness" and "Wireless Earbuds"
Links for the day
Links 07/06/2025: More Rumours of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft's XBox Division, New COVID Variant
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IV: Political Scrutiny and Errors/Inconsistencies in Official Documents
When such organisations receive scrutiny they start focusing on cover-up and muzzling of facts (or crushing people who say the truth)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 06, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 06, 2025
Slopwatch: LinuxTechLab, Planet Ubuntu, Anti-Linux FUD, and Microsoft SPAM
It's not easy to altogether avoid take articles these days
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: "MBA Tear" and Slop ('AI') as Plagiarism
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: "Convicted Felon and MElon Trade Insults" and Europe Snubbed by US Again
Links for the day
Links 06/06/2025: Microsoft XBox Bracing For More Mass Layoffs, Climate Disaster, Fake 'Money' Tokens From US President
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/06/2025: Vanishing Cultures and MElon Implosion
Links for the day
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
Links for the day
Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
Links for the day
Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025