[ILUG] No Software Patents in Europe?

[Justin Mason]

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Niall Walsh writes:
> Tell videolan about the lack of software patents in Europe.  From 
> www.videolan.org (French based free project) regarding their latest release:
> 
> "NOTE: This release doesn't include DTS audio decoding support. DTS Inc. 
> claims that distributing this software with DTS decoding capabilities is a 
> violation of their patent EP 864 146. At DTS Inc. request, we decided, as a 
> precautionary measure, to provisionally suspend the distribution of VLC with 
> DTS decoding capabilities while reviewing DTS Inc. claim. This is not an 
> acknowledgement of the validity of the claim."
> 
> God help them, they also include support for a lot of other stuff which could 
> see similar accusations, from mp3 to libdvdcss!  Also this particular code 
> libdca (formerly libdts) has spread to ffmpeg and hence mplayer amongst 
> others, I wonder if they will all remove it and/or see similar threats.
> 
> I suppose it was only a matter of time before videolan was attacked in some 
> way (perhaps they have already withstood some attacks), but it pains me to 
> see them capitulating so far as to remove decoding support for a format 
> thanks to a patent threat.   I suppose it gives a further demonstration of 
> the threat to Free Software.

Strange.  No US patents listed?

I think there may be still some danger even today; if I recall correctly,
some european countries *may* permit enforcement of EP swpats in their
jurisdiction.  or maybe they're just talking about it.  can't quite
recall...

(The EU currently doesn't have a single EU-wide patent infrastructure.
the EPO isn't actually part of the EU infrastructure, and all the
countries have their own independent patent offices.)

- --j.
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