[gst-devel] Can a MPEG-1 with Audio Layers 1&2 plugin be in plugins-good (patentwise)?

[jjcogliati-gstreamer at yahoo.com]

Okay, here is a recap of the patent status as I understand it:
MPEG-2 Patent encumbered.  MPEG-LA claims quite a few patents
MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) Patent encumbered.  AudioMPEG, Lucent and Thompson claim patents.
MPEG-1 Video.  No unexpired patents known to this list, but might be patent encumbered.
MPEG-1 Audio Layers 1 and 2.  No unexpired patents known to this list, but might be patent encumbered.

Because of patent worries, even MPEG-1 Video and MPEG-1 Audio Layers 1 and 2 decoders and encoders might not be able to be added to plugins-good even if the code would otherwise be acceptable.  

Is that correct?

Josh Cogliati


--- On Sun, 8/24/08, David Schleef <ds at schleef.org> wrote:

> From: David Schleef <ds at schleef.org>
> Subject: Re: [gst-devel] Can a MPEG-1 with Audio Layers 1&2 plugin be in plugins-good (patentwise)?
> To: jjcogliati-gstreamer at yahoo.com, "Discussion of the development of GStreamer" <gstreamer-devel at lists.sourceforge.net>
> Date: Sunday, August 24, 2008, 10:29 AM
> On Sun, Aug 24, 2008 at 07:41:53AM -0700,
> jjcogliati-gstreamer at yahoo.com wrote:
> > > Not now, because the relevant patents aren't
> expired. 
> > > The point of
> > > -good isn't to pack as much stuff into it as
> possible
> > > -- it's for
> > > stuff that distributors don't have to think
> twice
> > > about.  MPEG-1
> > > video is not at that point yet.  If the
> explanation why
> > > something
> > > can go into -good takes more than about one
> sentence,
> > > it's probably
> > > not OK.
> > 
> > Okay.  What are some of the relevant patents that are
> unexpired?
> > In my internet search, I have not found a single place
> or person
> > that listed a single unexpired MPEG-1 Video patent. 
> Of course, I
> > fully realize that there may be patents out there even
> if nobody
> > on this list can name any.  
> 
> That's not the point.  I don't think there is any
> patent protection
> on MPEG-1 video decoding either.  However, IMO, when people
> deploying
> gst-plugins-good hear "MPEG", they think
> "what about patents?".  This
> is not the look we're going for with gst-plugins-good.
> 
> > Okay, so let me check.  If libTwoLAME, an LGPL library
> that encodes
> > MPEG-1 Audio Layer 2 was wrapped, and assuming that it
> was of
> > sufficient quality then it could be included in
> gstreamer plugins-good?  
> 
> Yes.  Feel free to improve the one in -bad.
> 
> > Also, lets say that mpegaudioparse, which is currently
> in
> > plugins-ugly, had *all* the MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3
> parsing removed,
> > and a new plugin called something like
> mpegaudiolayer_1_and_2parse
> > was created.  Could this hypothetical
> mpegaudiolayer_1_and_2parse
> > be added to plugins-good?
> 
> Unless I misunderstand something, mpegaudioparse could be
> moved to
> -good as is.  However, I imagine that whomever made the
> decision in
> the past (check the archive) also used the "MPEG ->
> ugly" rule.
> 
> 
> 
> dave...