[ubuntu-za] DRM and software licensing (was Brainstorm on ideas to get Ubuntu to areas without internet)

[Nic Roets]

Let me just start by pointing out that the only problem with all the
MPEG codecs (and some of the WM codecs ??) are patent licenses. There
are many open source implementations of the software, so copyright is
not the real problem.

I am not a lawyer, but I think patent law makes provision for fair use
cases. For example a patent license cannot be tied to a specific
software implementation of that patent. So if a product (like MS
Windows or a netbook with MS Windows preinstalled) comes bundled with
MPEG patent licenses, you are allowed to use those licenses with
another implementation like Mplayer. (I heard the argument in
conjunction with the RSA public key patent).

Note however that most MPEG encoding licenses are only for
non-commercial use. You can't record a movie with your digital camera
and then sell it, even if the video is re-encoded in a standard not
covered by patents. Many of the youtube-like sites are not compliant,
but it is so expensive for the patent holder to take legal action,
that it rarely happens.



On Wed, Sep 8, 2010 at 2:24 PM, Marius Kruger <amanic at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 8 September 2010 09:03, Raoul Snyman
> <raoul.snyman at saturnlaboratories.co.za> wrote:
>>
>> On Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:56:08 +0200, Robin Bownes wrote:
>> > Why does the Ubuntu installation image not automatically install the
>> > necessary bits for playing DVDs, MP3s and the like?
>> Because the law says they're not allowed to distribute that stuff without
>> paying a license fee for *every copy*.
>
> just submitted this bainstorm idea.
> http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/25797/
> Canonical must sell DVD and MP3 codec licences for Ubuntu
> --
> There should be a very easy way to legally obtain these codecs during
> or after installation.
> As I understand it, to do this legally in some countries a royalty
> licence must be paid for each copy.
> So give the user an easy way to choose if they want to pay for that or
> not; then either way add the appropriate repositories (apt may need to
> be extended to support encryption etc. to support that).
>
> It would also be nice to distribute iso images which includes this,
> call it $buntu :P. It must log into ubuntuone on/after installation to
> activate it; so you can pay for it if you have not done so already.
>
> Maybe
> - this is planned already.
> - its a lot of work for little gain :(
> - partner with http://www.fluendo.com/ on this.
> --
>
> BUT, I was told that this is already done, see:
> http://shop.canonical.com/index.php?cPath=19
>
> I'm still not convinced that this is simple enough to get it from the
> desktop for non-technical users.
>
> --
> ubuntu-za mailing list
> ubuntu-za at lists.ubuntu.com
> https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-za
>