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> So if the community wouldn't pay to license in the past, I take it they are willing now?

Nope. It's just that the mp3-decoding patents have expired, so there is no need for a licence now. https://www.tunequest.org/a-bi...

Some patents for mp3-encoding are still in effect, but they expire by the end of 2017. Expect Redhat to ship mp3-encoders then.

Not only that but you can now from today decode it from MP3 format without having to pay any patent license fees.

Really? My sources say some MP3 patents expired this week, but others expire in 2017: US Patents 5,924,060; 6,009,399; and 6,185,539. A patent related to joint stereo (US Patent 5,703,999) appears to expire in 2016.

At least the patents on DVDs are expiring if not already expired. The first DVD player was sold in 1996, and patents can be good for up to 20 years from the filing date, so it would seem that by late next year, all necessary patents should have expired.

This is HORRIBLE legal advice. Patent laws were different before 1996, that's why MP3 patents are still around (and will be until 2017) despite the fact that specifications were published back in 1991!

In the United States, "patents filed prior to 8 June 1995 expire 17 years after the publication date of the patent, but application extensions make it possible for a patent to issue" quite a few years after initial filing.

MP3 patents have mostly expired, though one US patent expires later this year.

I wish that was true, but it's certainly not:

http://www.tunequest.org/a-big...

Actually, due to a hole that existed in patent applications before 1995, some of the patents don't expire until 2017: http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/

By the time FFMpeg got all the requisite signatures to dual-license, the patents would be expired.

(According to Wikipedia this debate becomes entirely academic in 2017.)
(and this is the citation)

No, this is false. The last patent doesn't expire til' 2017. http://www.tunequest.org/a-big-list-of-mp3-patents/20070226/

If you mean US Patents, anywhere between 2007 and 2017 depending on which related patent you are talking about.