[TriLUG] RH8 and Evolution Problem

[Greg Brown]

Cool.  Thanks for clearing that up.  The way I understood things it 
just made it look like RH didn't want to shell out a one-time charge.  
Now I better understand RH's decision.  I'd still like to see a 
unofficial documentation spill out of RH via some channel on how to get 
RH 8.0 to play mp3s, if any such documentation exists.

Greg

On Sunday, Oct 6, 2002, at 17:25 America/New_York, Matt Wilson wrote:

> On Sun, Oct 06, 2002 at 05:14:31PM -0400, Greg Brown wrote:
>> Even itty bitty Be OS payed out the $500,000.00 for mp3 licensing.  If
>> Be OS can do it, Red Hat should have been able to as well.  I can
>> understand Red Hat's position on the matter (to a degree) but I'm
>> really left scratching my head over the end decision.
>
> You've been reading Eugenia Loli-Queru's articles too much.
>
> You see, this is $500,000.00 for a proprietary piece of software.  It
> does not include redistribution beyond the first degree (I give a copy
> to Bob, then he gives it to Joe).  The patent license is not
> redistributable.  Therefore, as I can not guarantee that the patent
> license covers anyone that I give the software to, and everyone that
> they may give it to as well, it must not be distributed.  This is due
> to paragraph 7 of the GPL.
>
> We are not the copyright holders of the packages which decode mp3s and
> are placed under the GPL.  There are no exceptions (at this time)
> given by the authors of the software.  We must abide by the terms that
> they have licensed the code under, which includes refraining entirely
> from distribution of the Program if we can not secure a patent license
> for all those who receive copies directly or indirectly through us.
>
> A patent license to satisfy the GPL would essentially kill all revenue
> for Thompson, therefore the price tag of that license would be
> financially impossible.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Matt
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