----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Kristian Kielhofner" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 9:49 PM

[...]
>> I don't understand why Digium has to stick to this silly copy-protected
>> thing, when there is another well-known implementation of G.729 licensed
>> for
>> noncommercial use (and available for binary download, which may or may
>> not
>> infringe on the licensing terms, from a site in Latvia). At the end of
>> the
>> day, if someone want to cheat using G.729 in a commercial environment
>> without paying royalties on the algorithm, will use that other
>> implementation ignoring Digium's: so what's the point? The only end
>> result
>> is unnecessary grief for legitimate users...
>>
>> Cheers --
>>
>> Enzo
>>
>> P.S. And I'm not even sure if asking for royalties on a software patent
>> has
>> any legal standing outside the US: hasn't the European Parliament, last
>> year, rejected a bill that sought to introduce software patents?
>> http://uk.news.yahoo.com/060524/152/gchum.html says that also the EU
>> Commission (i.e., the Cabinet) has now adopted the same position.
>
> Enzo,
>
> I usually don't involve myself in political/legal issues, but...
>
> Usually (at least in my experience in the US) companies are more than
> willing to pay for licenses that they don't need, are unnecessary, or
> just plain stupid just to make sure it looks like they are trying.
>
> Call it cheap insurance or CYA (cover your a--), either way it's a
> reality!

Well, that's what I say: companies which should comply probably will without
compulsion. So what's the point of such enforced restrictions? Also because
that arrangement confusingly mixes two totally different IP issues: the
various patents on G.729, of which Sipro is the present licensing provider
on behalf of France Telecom and a bunch of other patent holders, and the
copyright on the implementation, that Digium chose to protect by keeping the
source code closed: much as VoiceAge did for its Win32 object library, but,
unlike the latter, adding an annoying registration procedure...

Cheers --

Enzo

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