Quote:
Originally Posted by junkmail  ac3 delete has nothing to do with patents, copyright etc (ac3 is opensource!). |
Uh, No.
liba52 is an open source implementation of an AC3 decoder.
Just because an open source implementation of something exists doesn't make it legal to use without licensing from the patent holder.
AC3 is a commercial codec that was covered by patents until recently, which is why many projects removed support for it. Dolby was well within their legal rights based on the licensing terms they had for use of AC3 to pursue companies implementing both the encoder and the decoder.
It is now legal for things to implement AC3 without a license because of the expiration of the patents which covered it. You will note that things implementing it are probably very careful not to call it Dolby Digital, because Dolby Digital is a registered trademark. Or do you think that's free as well?