Ogg, MPEG LA和潜水艇专利

几周前，我们发表了一篇 面试 with MPEG LA CEO Larry 角 on the patent group's decision not to charge for free content encoded with H.264.

后来我收到了一位读者的回信，他说:

我很失望. 面试似乎很轻松. 为什么不问更难的问题呢.g., was your decision in response to Wikipedia's (and potentially Firefox's) decision to support an open source format (Ogg Theora)? 你的面试应该直面真正的问题.

I checked to make sure the letter wasn't from my high school journalism teacher (it wasn't) and then reflected. 当时，我对奥格大战还不太了解. H.264在HTML 5的参数范围内争论，根本没有想到要问. 但后来我仔细研究了这场辩论, 尤其是苹果公司, 谁是MPEG LA委员会的成员, has repeatedly stated that they won't adopt Ogg because of the risk of submarine patents. 比如， Ryan Paul的文章很棒 Ars Technica关于这个主题的文章.

所以我创建了一组新的问题，并将它们发送给MPEG LA. 这引出了另一轮问题，然后我把这些问题寄给了希普.org，负责监督Theora格式. 然后我从Xiph的创始人Monty 蒙哥马利那里得到了一个非常有趣的回复.

我们将来一定会更多地讨论这个话题, 但是现在, it makes sense to simply share the (relatively unedited) responses from MPEG LA's 角 and Xiph's 蒙哥马利, 让你更好地了解每个组织的立场.

Q&答:我是MPEG LA的拉里·霍恩

沉思: Did the patent group consider factors like HTML5 when extending the free pricing model?

角不，这不是一个因素.

沉思: Has any thought been given to making decode free permanently to avoid these issues?

角这取决于拥有适用技术专利权的人. The license offered by MPEG LA charges a royalty for decoders wherever or however deployed. 除了, no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free. 几乎所有的编解码器都基于专利技术, and many of the essential patents may be the same as those that are essential to AVC/H.264. 因此, users should be aware that a license and payment of applicable royalties is likely required to use these technologies developed by others, 太. MPEG LA would consider offering on additional licenses that would make these rights conveniently available to the market under a single license as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses with individual patent holders.

MPEG - LA后续
评论“另外, no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free. In fact, they are not" got my attention, so I sent MPEG LA another round of questions.

沉思: It sounds like you are saying that some of your patent holders own patents that are used in Ogg. 对吗??

角我们相信有些专利持有者会这么做.

沉思听起来你会站出来说要用Ogg, 你需要从MPEG LA获得许可. 对吗??

角我们不是这么说的. We said no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free. Whether MPEG LA would offer a license for such rights is a different matter and has not been determined. If the market would find convenience in a single license to address these intellectual property needs, 那么MPEG LA就会有兴趣像提供其他编解码器一样提供一个.

沉思我想我知道答案，但还是得问一下. 有些人会断言自由H.264解码是一个蹩脚的努力，以促进H.264作为html5事实上的编解码器. 你对此有何回应??

角MPEG LA不提倡或提倡使用特定的技术标准. 这是每个用户自己的决定. Our business is to offer licenses for the technologies they choose as a convenience to them. 因此，MPEG LA目前提供MPEG-2、MPEG-4 Visual和AVC/H的许可.264, VC-1, mpeg - 2系统, 1394, 和电视, and we are interested in offering others that would provide similar convenience. To the extent other codecs use patented technologies and they are currently used without license, 提供这样的新许可证可能是有益的.

Q&A和Xiph的Monty 蒙哥马利
我把MPEG LA的回答发给了Xiph的律师，请他发表评论, 是谁把他们送到西弗的蒙蒂·蒙哥马利那里的.

沉思: Has any thought been given to making decode free permanently to avoid these issues?

蒙哥马利答:我理解你的意思. I'm compelled to add (as you're probably aware) that we don't consider it a good thing that participants in the web are consumers only. 我们想看看那些家庭视频博主, 学生, 街头艺人, and everyone else allowed to participate without being forced into monopoly pricing. 解码版税对大型网络供应商很重要, 但编码和流媒体版税对其他所有人来说都很重要.

沉思MPEG LA的声明是什么意思? “除了, no one in the market should be under the misimpression that other codecs such as Theora are patent-free."

蒙哥马利15年了，Xiph.Org小心翼翼地“按规则行事”,“完全在界限之内, 意图, 以及知识产权和专利法的信. 在过去的十年里，我们告诉了全世界, 包括MPEG LA, 详细介绍了我们的规格和算法. We've requested in open letters that any group believing we are infringing to inform us so that we make take immediate corrective action.

I predict that MPEG LA may counter that they know groups have been pressured into licensing patents in order to use Theora. 这是最近的幕后主张. You might want to ask point blank if MPEG LA itself or any of its constituent members has engaged in this practice, 从而制造证据来“证明”他们的专利指控是正确的. I beg you—tell me immediately if you get a straight answer (or good video of any squirming)!

I'm sure you can tell I'm a bit peeved; this has been going on for over a decade. 令人惊讶的是，他们从来没有被点名.

沉思以下是来自MPEG LA的声明? “几乎所有的编解码器都基于专利技术, and many of the essential patents may be the same as those that are essential to AVC/H.264. "

蒙哥马利: Non-logic; i.e.“我不是说奥巴马先生. 斯特劳曼是个恋童癖. 我只是提醒你，他经常和孩子们在一起." MPEG LA has had more than ten years to say anything substantial on this front. 他们没有.

沉思另一个MPEG LA声明:“因此, users should be aware that a license and payment of applicable royalties are likely required to use these technologies developed by others, 太. MPEG LA is currently working on additional licenses that would make these rights conveniently available to the market under a single license as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses with individual patent holders."

蒙哥马利: I will point out that MPEG LA's own licensing terms disclaim that it is a complete license to use MPEG technology, and neither grants a license nor guarantees protection against patents outside of the patent pool MPEG LA controls.

沉思我想我知道答案，但还是得问一下. 有些人会断言自由H.264解码是一个蹩脚的努力，以促进H.264作为HTML 5的实际编解码器. 你对此有何回应??

蒙哥马利: Threats with no supporting evidence have garnered industry-wide press coverage for a decade; why would MPEG LA say more? 你有胆量再次追问这些问题的答案.

(声明一下，“Ogg”并不是基于On2技术. Theora, the lossy video codec within the larger Ogg system [the piece equivalent to H.[264]最初是基于On2的VP3编解码器构建的. On2当时授予我们VP3的IP权. 原始的On2代码都没有保存下来, 但是Theora格式规范仍然是原始VP3的超集. Our other codecs and the Ogg container itself were developed in-house and have no relation to On2 or MPEG. 你所写的没有任何误导，但我希望这是有用的. 如果我告诉你一些你已经知道的细节，我很抱歉.)

Summary
好了，我回来了. 这就是我们所知道的. I sent 蒙哥马利's responses back to MPEG LA, who responded with a "no comment."

从我对下一代Ogg Theora的看法来看, 它有机会成为第一个严重威胁H的国家.264，届时潜艇专利要么会浮出水面，要么不会. 当然, there are lots of other factors that will play out over the next few months: How Flash Player 10.1 fares once released; whether Apple ports Flash to the iPad or lets Adobe access the graphics hardware for H.264 playback acceleration on the Mac: whether Microsoft decides to get off the fence and join the HTML5 revolution.

Adding to the open source codec noise is the uncertainty surrounding what Google will do with the VP7/VP8 codecs. 如果开源，它将引发一系列全新的问题.

最后，感谢James J. SpinCycle的播种者.Org，感谢他发送了那封开启这一切的电子邮件. 嘿，詹姆斯，你应该教新闻!