Codecs and Software Patents - Part XI - The Stance of RMS (Dr. Stallman) Reassured GNU Regarding AV1

posted by Roy Schestowitz on May 27, 2026

Dr. Stallman, Chief GNUisance of the GNU Project and founder of the Free Software Foundation, has cautioned against software patents since the early 90s if not earlier. "For what it's worth," a source told us, "Dr. Stallman now has a clear-eyed take on the technical and legal picture" when it comes to video and audio (or generally multimedia) codecs.

And "when I raised it with him," the source told us, "he wrote to me: "AV1 seems good. I accessed one such file and played it just now. [...] Thanks for investigating this."

"In the GNU Project, the question we ask is, "Is anyone threatening free software with patent lawsuits for using this method?" If we were more cautious than that, nothing would appear safe."

"So I'm satisfied that AV1 is ok for us to use." █

Previously:

2026-05-05	Codecs and Software Patents - Part I - The 2026 Status Quo
2026-05-06	Codecs and Software Patents - Part II - AV1 and HEVC Not Really Safe
2026-05-07	Codecs and Software Patents - Part III - AOMedia Video 1 (AV1) and Antitrust Issues
2026-05-08	Codecs and Software Patents - Part IV - Things Got So Bad That Some Laptop Sales Got Banned in the EU (Over Software Patents!)
2026-05-10	Codecs and Software Patents - Part V - A Reminder That GAFAM and the European Patent Office (Which Serves American Monopolists) Do Considerable Harm to the Commons and Culture
2026-05-11	Codecs and Software Patents - Part VI - The European Patent Office, Nokia, Microsoft, Sisvel, and More
2026-05-15	Codecs and Software Patents - Part VII - Entering Phase II, the Battle Against Companies That Normalise Taxed (by Patents on Mathematics) Codecs
2026-05-21	Codecs and Software Patents - Part VIII - GNU Audio/Video Team Has Chosen the AV1 Video Codec and It Explains Why (They've Researched Their Options)
2026-05-24	Codecs and Software Patents - Part IX - GNU Project Has Chosen to Adopt AV1 for Its Videos, Conversion and Additions Underway
2026-05-26	Codecs and Software Patents - Part X - Florian Müller Still Muddying the Waters for FOSS, Using Software Patents