[linux-audio-dev] EU software patents?

Frank Barknecht fbar at footils.org
Wed Sep 24 15:19:01 UTC 2003


Hallo,
Paul Winkler hat gesagt: // Paul Winkler wrote:

> On Wed, Sep 24, 2003 at 05:36:59PM +0200, Frank Barknecht wrote:
> > I suppose you wouldn't be allowed to control one oscillator's
> > frequency with the output of another oscillator using more than about
> > 10 Hz because that is Frequency Modulation and Yamaha has a patent on
> > that. But I'm no lawyer.
> 
> Oh that's just absurd. What are they going to do?

I should have added a :) smiley, because this was intended to be
absurd or to show, how absurd software patents can get. Everyone I
guess knows that Amazon patented the "On-Click" method. I wanted to
say that those things exist in music software, too. Maybe FM synthesis
is not a good example, because this technique is actually more complex
than Amazon's.

> Sue John Chowning who claims to have invented FM audio synthesis
> way back in the 70s?

I now did a bit more research on that and I was a bit wrong: The
patent is Standford's and Yamaha is a licensee. Also this patent seems
to have expired 1995. But not without achieving this: 

"Stanford's FM synthesis patent, which expired two years ago, was the
second biggest money maker in campus history. It brought in more than
$20 million."
(http://www.stanford.edu/dept/news/report/news/july16/sondiusxg.html)

I think, several Waveguide patents also developed at Stanford are
still valid. Also the documentation of Perry Cooks STK says: 

"The basic Chowning/Stanford FM patent expired in 1995, but there
exist follow-on patents, mostly assigned to Yamaha. If you are of the
type who should worry about this (making money) worry away."

> Sue every radio station in the world?

I think, the patent only covered the use of FM in a musical
instrument.

ciao
-- 
 Frank Barknecht                               _ ______footils.org__



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