[x264-devel] Re: Legal Status

[The Video Genie]

Hi All,
I am thankful for all the information provided. It is really valuable. I 
will look into GPL and MPEG-LA licensing information and come back to you. 
Alex your detailed answer helped me a lot.

Kind Regards
The Video Genie


>From: Dmitriy Vatolin <dmitriy at graphics.cs.msu.ru>
>Reply-To: x264-devel at videolan.org
>To: Alex Izvorski <x264-devel at videolan.org>
>Subject: [x264-devel] Re: Legal Status
>Date: Sat, 19 Aug 2006 01:22:06 +0400
>
>Hello Alex,
>
>    Wonderful answer!
>
>    Also it's reasonable to say, that MPEG-LA for H.264 has better
>    condition, than for MPEG-4 for example. Also it's not necessary to
>    pay (but necessary to register) if your sales less then 50000 (AFAIR
>    - it's necessary to check this), so it's solvable question.
>
>    BTW - we sent to Loren Merritt our test of x264 for review, hope you
>    received it.
>
>Yours,
>  Dr. Vatolin
>
>Friday, August 18, 2006, 5:53:04 PM, you wrote:
>
>
>AI> I recommend you talk to a good intellectual propery attorney who can
>AI> explain "derivative work".  The short answer is:  any modifications
>AI> belong to whoever wrote them, but at the same time the original that
>AI> they are inextricably a part of belongs to whoever wrote that as 
>well...
>AI> and what you can do with the combination of the two (the "derivative
>AI> work") is just whatever both authors will permit you (and if their 
>terms
>AI> disagree, quite possibly the answer is "nothing").
>
>AI> Since x264 is distributed under the GPL, you can do whatever you want
>AI> with it, but if you *distribute* it, or a modified version, or a larger
>AI> program that incorporates it, the *complete* source code for that 
>*must*
>AI> be licensed also under the GPL and distributed with it.  The GPL
>AI> contains a more thorough (and authoritative) description of the terms 
>so
>AI> you should read that (and again: talk to an attorney who specializes in
>AI> open-source licenses).
>
>AI> Since Tom Jacobs mentioned MPEG-LA, let me just say a word about that:
>AI> the H264 standard incorporates a number of patents.  In order to get
>AI> them adopted as part of the standard, the patent-holders had to agree 
>to
>AI> license them under "fair and nondiscriminatory" terms to everyone.
>AI> MPEG-LA handles the actual licensing on their behalf.  You definitely
>AI> need a patent license for a number of things you might use x264 for 
>(not
>AI> for everything, I believe a number of small or non-commercial uses have
>AI> an automatic exemption, but for commercial use you probably need a
>AI> license).  However (and this is an extremely important and possibly
>AI> confusing point) the patent license for H264 is *completely separate*
>AI> from the copyright license for x264.  You need both; you need to comply
>AI> with the terms of both; if one says you can do something and the other
>AI> says you can't, then you can't.
>
>AI> Lastly, a word of warning: open source projects generally have an
>AI> excellent track record of catching and dealing with people who break 
>the
>AI> license terms.  The perception may be that "who cares, it's free
>AI> anyway"... but people can get downright fanatical about it when you
>AI> violate open-source licenses.  If you follow the rules and play nice,
>AI> you can freely use this incredible software for all kinds of things,
>AI> even commercially.  But you do have to follow the rules.  Asking on the
>AI> mailing list is an excellent first step ;)
>
>AI> Hope that clears things up.
>
>AI> Regards,
>AI> --Alex
>
>AI> On Fri, 2006-08-18 at 03:02 -0700, farooq Ahmad wrote:
> >> What will be the legal status of companies that just modify naming
> >> conventions for variables as well as functions but keep similar code
> >> structure? Will that code be considered their proprietary 
>implementation?
> >> What are the licensing issues in using x264 current implementation.
> >>
> >> Regards
> >> The Video Genie
> >>
> >> _________________________________________________________________
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>
>
>
>
>--
>Best regards,
>  Dmitriy                            mailto:dmitriy at graphics.cs.msu.ru
>
>
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