[M4IF Discuss] RE: [M4IF News] Results M4IF Fairfax Meeting

[Daniel B. Miller]

it's interesting that structured audio and face/body animation, both of
which I would expect to be very leading-edge technology, appear to be
patent free, whereas audio and video coding, which are based on concepts
more than half a century old, are so heavily encumbered.
I guess no one thought they would get rich off structured audio.
 ___  Dan Miller
(++,) CTO and founder, On2 Technologies
On Tue, 7 May 2002, Rob Koenen wrote:
> Eric,
>
> thanks for the response. You read the resolution correct.
> As far as the people involved can tell, Structured Audio does
> not seem to infringe any patents. This resolution seeks to confirm
> this. If no evidence is submitted to M4IF, then Structured Audio
> implementers will be able to work with just a little more comfort.
> The same applies to Face and Body animation technology providers.
>
> In the event that some evidence that there may still be patents
> *does* surface , we will need to go the way of trying to get
> someone to organize a pool -- but we do not anticipate this.
>
> Statements like "I believe there are still patents" without further
> qualification will indeed be unhelpful.
>
> Thanks,
> Rob
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Eric Scheirer [mailto:edsmedia   alum.mit.edu]
> > Sent: Sunday, May 05, 2024 7:17
> > To: Rob Koenen; M4IF member list (E-mail); M4IF Discussion
> > List (E-mail)
> > Subject: Re: [M4IF News] Results M4IF Fairfax Meeting
> >
> >
> > Hi Rob and all,
> >
> > I just wanted to make a note regarding the following part of
> > the results:
> >
> > > 5. In order to facilitate deployment of MPEG-4 Structured Audio
> > > and Face/Body Animation, it will be necessary to assess the
> > > patent situation. M4IF resolves to have a "Call for Existence
> > > of Patents Essential to the Implementation of MPEG-4 Structured
> > > Audio and Face/Body Animation" at the June M4IF meeting. If
> > > such a Call results in statements by parties that believe that
> > > such essential patents may exist, M4IF will recommend that
> > > there be a third-party process to:
> > > a) Determine if there are such essential patents, and, if so
> > > b) Establish a joint licensing scheme for each of these two
> > > pieces of technology.
> >
> > In particular, regarding MPEG-4 Structured Audio and MPEG-4
> > AudioBIFS Version 1, it is my strongly held belief that these
> > parts of the standard are completely patent-free.  That was
> > always the intent of MIT in taking the lead role in developing
> > and integrating technology for these parts of the standard,
> > and MIT at least has officially released all of its pertinent
> > technology into the public domain.
> >
> > Further, as an individual contributor with a fair knowledge
> > of the patent landscape in the music-synthesis space, I
> > continue to believe that there are no applicable patents
> > governing the use of MPEG-4 Structured Audio.  I will point out
> > that most of the basic concepts in this standard are much
> > older than the basic concepts in lossy audio/video coding,
> > dating back to the work of Mathews in the early 1960s.
> >
> > I definitely support the statement (5) in the precise form
> > articulated above, namely, to demand that those who believe
> > there are patents applicable and required for the implementation
> > of MPEG-4 Structured Audio to come forward with appropriate
> > documentation.  However, as part of this support, I must
> > strongly articulate my belief that it is not appropriate
> > for others to say "well, maybe there are still patents" or
> > "nobody knows if there are patents."
> >
> > I say in response: *I* know, and it is the case that there
> > are none (of course I am not a lawyer and this is not
> > legal advice).  I will continue to say this and to encourage
> > the open development and deployment of Structured Audio
> > tools until convincing evidence by the appropriate stakeholders,
> > not just "concern" by third parties, is presented to the
> > contrary.
> >
> > Best to all,
> >
> >  -- Eric
> >
> > ----
> > Eric D. Scheirer, Ph.D.
> > edsmedia   alum.mit.edu
> > +1 617 666 8905
> > http://sound.media.mit.edu/~eds
> >
> >
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