HP EX485 - MediaSmart Server - 2 GB RAM, User Manual, Page: 309 / 336

Licenses, Copyrights and Notices for Open Source Components
evidence, validity or applicability of claimed Intellectual Property Rights, whether asserted by ITU
members or others outside of the Recommendation development process.
And for MPEG-4:
The user's attention is called to the possibility that, for some of the processes specified in this part of
ISO/IEC 14496, conformance with this specification may require use of an invention covered by
patent rights. By publication of this part of ISO/IEC 14496, no position is taken with respect to the
validity of this claim or of any patent rights in connection therewith.
Q: Is it legal to use such patented algorithms?
A: Patent laws change wildly between jurisdictions. Besides, even in places where software
patents are recognized, there is serious doubt about the legitimacy of such legislation. Note that
patents on algorithms are illegal in many countries. Plus the use of patents to prevent the usage of
a format or codec on a specific operating system or together with specific other software might
violate antitrust laws.
Q: Bottom line: Should I be worried about legal issues if I use FFmpeg?
A: Are you a private user working with FFmpeg for your own personal purposes? If so, there is
remarkably little reason to be concerned. Are you using FFmpeg in a commercial software
product? Read on to the next question...
Q: Since FFmpeg is licensed under the LGPL, is it perfectly alright to incorporate the whole
FFmpeg core into my own commercial product?
A: You might have a problem here. Sure, the LGPL allows you to incorporate the code. However,
there have been cases where companies have used FFmpeg in their projects, usually for such
capabilities as superior MPEG-4 decoding. These companies found out that once you start trying
to make money from certain technologies, the alleged owners of the technologies will come after
their protection money. Most notably, MPEG-LA (licensing authority) is vigilant and diligent
about collecting for MPEG-related technologies.
Q: You called the patent license fee protection money, is this a joke?
A: No. The legal validity of these patents is highly questionable. Still in many current legal
systems it is very easy to ruin a company with patents even if the patents are invalid. Paying the
(small) license fee is much cheaper than a patent lawsuit during which you would not be able to
sell your product as the patent would be valid until you win the lawsuit 5+ years in the future. That
is assuming you did not go bankrupt in the meantime...
Q: Can I be safe if I have paid my protection money.
A: You can never be safe as long as your country recognizes software patents as valid. There are
companies that own many patents, pay and cross-license for other companies patents, but even
such companies are being found guilty of infringing some obscure little-known patent and end up
paying millions for it. That's why lobbying against software patents is in your own interest. Of
course none of this is related to you using FFmpeg or another codec implementation. If you want
to be safe the only option is not to touch any software at all.
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