Ein Slashdot-Posting versetzte diese Woche die Open Source Community in Aufruhr. Angeblich hatte Thomson Multimedia die Lizenzbedingungen für MP3-Decoder (Player) so geändert, dass auch freie Decoder ab sofort Lizenzgebühren zahlen müssen.

Thomson Multimedia hat diese Auslegung nun dementiert und nochmals bekräftigt, dass sich die Lizenzbedingungen seit 1995 nicht geändert haben und nur kommerzielle MP3-Decoder diese Lizenzgebühr von 75 US-Cent pro Gerät/Software zahlen müssen.

Thomson Multimedia’s Statement im Wortlaut:

Statement from Thomson Multimedia, mp3 Licensing

In a posting appearing Tuesday August 27, 2002 on the Web site

'slashdot.org,' an individual cited a change in the mp3 license fee

structure of Thomson and Fraunhofer.  The writer of the post apparently

misread the mp3 licensing conditions, as Thomson's mp3 licensing policy has

not experienced any change.

To clarify, since the beginning of our mp3 licensing program in 1995,

Thomson has never charged a per unit royalty for freely distributed software

decoders.  For commercially sold decoders -- primarily hardware mp3 players --

the per-unit royalty has always been in place since the beginning of the

program.

Therefore, there is no change in our licensing policy and we continue to

believe that the royalty fees of .75 cents per mp3 player (on average

selling over $200 dollars) has no measurable impact on the consumer

experience.

Martin Leyrer

Tagged as: Eigene_Stories_+_News, WCM_Online-News | Author: Martin Leyrer
[Donnerstag, 20020829, 08:42 | permanent link | 0 Kommentar(e)