Advanced Video Coding Still Under Patent
Brazilian patent BRPI0109962B1 has expired, which means that DivX and Xvid are no longer problematic for Linux, but it doesn’t mean that video is all of a sudden fully unleashed.
A 25-year-old patent for the "process for storing and processing image information from successive images over time" has expired, which means Linux distributions like Fedora no longer have to instruct users to download the necessary software to run certain video and audio files.
Huzzah, right?
Sort of.
The patent in question covers MPEG-4 Part 14 (more commonly known as the MP4 file format). While Linux has been freed from this encumbrance (which is a good thing), it doesn't exactly solve the problem as a whole.
You see, that 25-year-old patent resolves issues surrounding DivX and Xvid, both of which are, you guessed it, legacy. Sure, DivX and Xvid are useful to have around to play older videos, but the lingering problem is that MP4 is no longer the standard file format. Unfortunately, the new standard, H.264/Advanced Video Coding (AVC), is covered under MPEG-4 Part 10. As you probably expected, MPEG-4 Part 10 is still under a patent, which doesn’t expire until 2030.
Once the MPEG-4 Part 10 patent expires, it'll be a totally different ballgame for Linux distributions and users… unless there's yet another new standard that happens to be protected by patents.
