Re: Subject: [Discuss-gnuradio] APCO 25

[Mark Smith]

On Sat, Jan 18, 2003 at 07:39:34PM -0800, Steve Schear wrote:
> I'm puzzled by the apparent problem of patents and licensing.  

So am I, and I live in the US..  :)

> Lots of 
> companies are upset over DVD decryption software, yet is very widely 
> available for download.
> 
> There are more than a few major countries which fail to recognize 
> algorithms as the basis for patents (or the "trick" of implementing them in 
> hardware logic as an attempted circumvention).  If profit is not the key 
> motive in releasing APCO25 code then I don't see the problem offering the 
> source from one of these countries (e.g., So. Africa, Australia or New 
> Zealand).

Great.  You know anyone in one of those countries who can write the
code for us?  If I (for example) were to contribute code to the project, 
I think that it would still be covered (at least the parts I wrote, and
possibly the whole package) by the patent issues.

And, if I'm not mistaken, it would still be illegal for me to use it
in the US, even if I downloaded it from somewhere else.  So, while
it would help with distribution, it still doesn't address the main problem
for people like me (ie: Good, Upstanding, Law Abiding Citizens(tm)).

If at all possible, the better answer is to get the patent holders to 
allow non-comercial use free of charge.  Then, there would be no problems
for someone like me to use the code, or better yet, help write the code.
-- 
Mark Smith - finger address@hidden for GPG v1.0.1 public key

pgpiA_pfjRvxY.pgp
Description: PGP signature