• arglebargle@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    MPEG LA is (now Via Licensing Alliance) has been active in collecting fees and defending patents. There is no reason to assume they won’t go after distros, particularly those who can pay given that they are willing to take on anyone else. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MPEG_LA

    • hottari@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      They have never gone after said distros all those many many years they have bundled licensed codecs in their ISOs. What changed?

      • arglebargle@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        Because those distros have (as we are talking about) distanced themselves from the patent encumbered codecs? When Google tried to get behind VP8, MPEG LA was right there to try and stop them by trying to get them into the pool.

        Edit: I should have said many didn’t Fedora opted out of compiling mesa with hardware accell, and it seems others did too recently. But that means it was there the whole time. I guess most distros, that have any money, are going to want shelter from lawsuits.