Linked by Thom Holwerda on Sun 16th May 2010 12:52 UTC, submitted by mrsteveman1
Mozilla, sticking to its ideals of the open web, decided long ago that support for the patent-encumbered H264 codec would not be included in any of its products. Not only is H264 wholly incompatible with the open web and Free software, it is also incredibly expensive. Mozilla could use one of the open source implementations, but those are not licensed, and the MPEG-LA has been quite clear in that it will sue those who encode or decode H264 content without a license. Software patents, however, are only valid in some parts of the world, so an enterprising developer has started a project that was sure to come eventually: Firefox builds with H264 support.
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Member since:2009-04-23
Member since:2005-07-06
Member since:2008-07-15
This is a common misconception. Using it is not illegal. Distributing unlicensed MPEG codecs from inside the US etc. is illegal under under the condition that more than 100,000 copies are distributed per year. (Distributing less than 100,000 is free according to the MPEG-LA's AVC licensing website.)
True, though best to keep in mind that MPEG-LA has threatened to go after anyone they find using an unlicensed decoder or encoder. That in and of itself doesn't make it illegal to use (that'd be for the courts to decide) but no doubt the legal fees to defend against the MPEG-LA would bankrupt your typical US citizen.
Member since:2005-07-06
MPEG-LA has threatened to go after anyone they find using an unlicensed decoder or encoder
That's a claim I've read often, but the actual MPEG-LA website says otherwise. In fact, the MPEG-LA does not even have a licensing program for users. They only have one for distributors and even distributors don't have to pay anything as long as they don't have more than 100,000 customers per year.
the legal fees to defend against the MPEG-LA would bankrupt your typical US citizen
Giving a free ride for anyone who distributes 99,999 copies per year, but suing individual users who don't have a license, because they can't even obtain one? That does not make sense.
Such a case won't even be accepted by courts.
Edited 2010-05-16 20:27 UTC
Member since:2007-02-17
If GStreamer or the native platform player is used then there would be no issues with legality. Ubuntu paid the licensing fees for h.264, both OSX and Win7 have h codec included in the OS on top of all the hardware that has licenses as well. They should be covered depending on how they implement it.
Member since:
2005-07-06
This is a common misconception. Using it is not illegal. Distributing unlicensed MPEG codecs from inside the US etc. is illegal under under the condition that more than 100,000 copies are distributed per year. (Distributing less than 100,000 is free according to the MPEG-LA's AVC licensing website.)