Microsoft WMV In Patent Trouble?

thpr writes "According to rethink, Microsoft may be violating patents in their Windows Media software. Apparently, the VC1 standard (from The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers), which has been pushed by Microsoft, depends on patents owned by other companies - more than likely, those that have patents used in the previous MPEG standards. According to the sources in the story, both Sony and Philips may take the case to court, rather than continuing negotiation. As they point out in a later update, Sony might be pleased to have a say in the competing HD-DVD format. Is this a 'major speed bump to Microsoft's dominance of digital media markets'?" Well, the answer, IMHO, is probably not - this is a negotiation issue. But this is a wonderful example of how intertwined legal & software issues can become.

Comments

EH0D MAKES PIDDLE IN YOUR EAR FOR FIRST POST POWEr

[Anonymous Coward]

unforUNATELY eh0d failed this noised. :.(...

patent blah

[cmdrSaKo]

a patent here a patent there they gotta be in trouble someday ...even though they bully ppl around ..looks like the beast of redmond is in a tiffy :-P
GGGMMMAAAIIILLL invites email me mrfrostbite@gmail.com

So Patents are OK now? Or are they still bad?

[MondoMor]

See, this hurts Microsoft, who is BAD. But it's a Patent, which is BAD.

I'm just trying to figure out what to say so that I agree with CmdrTaco and his friends so that I can have positive karma. Because if I happen to disagree, someone will find all of my posts and mod them down using "overrated" so that they can't be filtered out by meta-mod.

So really, to actually say anything, you need to agree with CmdrTaco, and I'm confused on this one.

Re:Redundant?

[AviLazar]

You obviously do not realize how some moderators believe the mod system to work

The moderators logic is - "If I read it somewhere, in some other thread - hell in a different life span- or if it can be conceived that someone else might have thought or said what you just said - then it needs to be redundant."

Personally I hate redundant mod - I do not read every single post in a thread - (there can be hundreds) and so it is not unlikely that my post will say something similar to someone elses.

Thats why I always metamod redudant as unfair. And I get to metamod one or two times a day (it seems like more...can i have mod points sometime?)

Re:Redundant?

[MyLongNickName]

Yea. I do see how some mods are. I like to burn my karma once in a while when I see abuse like this. Take a look at the modding now... the guy actually has a flamebait attached to the comment. A perfectly innocent, obvious statement, and it is flamebait. My statement WAS flamebait. It deserved a flamebait...

Mods: Please mod this one down as well... it will be one less mod point you have to do damage elsewhere.

Re:Redundant?

[AviLazar]

I totally agree with you. As I have said in the past (so this post should be a insightful, redudant, troll), I surf at Karma Excellente - they can mod me down all day and I will still be fine :D