[x264-devel] Re: Licensing Question

[Måns Rullgård]

Thomas Kuglitsch <tkuglits at edu.uni-klu.ac.at> writes:

> Hi there,
>
> I am new to H.264 and am trying to compare several video codecs as a
> part for my master thesis at the University of Klagenfurt.
> Therefore I have a question. Although x264 is published under the
> GNU General Public License, will there be any restrictions using
> x264 in the future.

The x264 authors have no plans to impose any restriction.

> I'm thinking about patents because of the standarisation through
> MPEG and ITU.

Patents are not related to the standardization.

> Will the standard H.264 (and in particular your implementation of
> the standard in x264) stay available for everyone without paying for
> it?

The x264 code will remain freely available.  This does not mean that
you do not need to buy a patent license to use it.  There are numerous
patents covering parts of H.264.  Many of them are probably not valid
in Germany; the details vary depending on how you use the codec.  You
should ask your university's legal department if you are worried about
infringing patents.

-- 
Måns Rullgård
mru at inprovide.com

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