[ptx] patent issues

[Marko Mäkelä]

Hi,

I've been lurking on this list since a couple of months.  I'm sorry that
I haven't contributed anything to the project yet, but I'm not familiar
with the algorithms, and I think it'd be easier to contribute once the
software has been "polished".  I've been very glad to see the progress
made on an open-source optimizer and automatic feature detector.

Alexandre wrote:

> So what ? I don't what to think. I really don't want to get the same problem
> as Dr.Hersch in the past.

Software patent claims can be circumvented by not releasing the software
in executable form, but only as source code.  There is a good explanation
in the LAME Technical FAQ (http://lame.sourceforge.net/tech-FAQ.txt):

---
LAME, as the name says, is *not* an encoder.  LAME is a development
project which uses the open source model to improve MP3 technology.
Many people believe that compiling this code and distributing an
encoder which uses this code would violate some patents (in the US,
Europe and Japan).  However, *only* a patent lawyer is qualified to
make this determination.  The LAME project tries to avoid all these
legal issues by only releasing source code, much like the ISO
distributes MP3 "demonstration" source code.  Source code is
considered as speech, which may contain descriptions of patented
technology.  Descriptions of patents are in the public
domain.
---

Modular software architecture, using dynamically linked libraries or
separately invoked small programs, could also be a good solution.  Then,
the core program could be packaged in Debian or Fedora, and only the
disputed features would have to be compiled and installed by users.

	Marko Mäkelä