[Linux-aus] Fwd: Ogg Vorbis and Theora removed from HTML5

[David Newall]

Mike Lampard wrote:
> I find the idea of 'additional patent risk' somewhat amusing, coming from the 
> parties involved, even if valid.  I'm probably mistaken, but I believe Apple 
> licence the Sorensen codec from a 3rd party, .mov is basically a container 
> for mpeg[1-4], and I suspect that few if any modern MS codecs are developed 
> in-house.  Possibly a silly question but IANAL -  I suppose they'd have 
> protection from any possible patent infringement by those third-parties via 
> the licence/royalty agreements?  
>   

Well, yes, probably they do pay appropriate royalties.  Understand that 
patents are usually claimed for compression, not decompression, so 
there's no issue with displaying compressed files, but there is an issue 
with their creation.  W3C want browsers to contain codecs for which 
anyone can freely create content.

> If so, how would Ogg be any different? Xiph have stated repeatedly that Ogg 
> has no patent encumbrances, and the spec is in the public domain. Surely that 
> would immunise any company using their tech?
>   

Ogg's creators reputedly 
<http://rudd-o.com/archives/2007/12/11/removal-of-ogg-vorbis-and-theora-from-html5-an-outrageous-disaster/> 
took great care to ensure their technology would not violate any 
patents, researching the issue before code was written, explicitly to 
avoid submarine patents <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Submarine_patent>.
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