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A comment on “MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story. Parent comment

Re:“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by germanier on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @06:09AM (#14348506)
There are many examples of patent trolls but this isn't one. MP3 was new, innovative, and the result of long effort. The patent fees directly funded new research of even better technology. That's the patent system working as designed.

I just read your blog post through Google Translate. You seem to claim that they patented the use of Fourier transform for storage of music. This is not what happened at all. The patent was granted for specifying which part of the Fourier transform can safely be discarded for storage (and reconstructed while playback) without harming the sound you hear too much. That's not something they just looked up in a 200-year-old book but took more than a decade of complex research. The result of this research is their actual product and it's a highly valuable one.

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Re:“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by alsadi on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @07:47AM (#14357503)
I'm a person who oppose all kind of software patents. any use of software patents is a patent troll (if you have patent, you should have a clear patent policy that it's for defensive purpose).

According to the case of Bilski, patents should involve a machine, otherwise it's invalid. But trolls don't care of their patents are invalid, because of how patent cases are handled in courts

http://www.groklaw.net/articlebasic.php?story=20081102011538...

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Re:“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by germanier on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @11:30AM (#14359419)
Your political stance doesn't change that what you wrote is simply wrong. They did not get a patent for the Fourier transform but for something completely new which no one thought of before.

Fraunhofer would not have developed audio compression if they couldn't earn money with it (they are a non-profit by the way and the money earned funds new research). That's their business model. They have novel ideas, do hard work to make them possible, and sell that to companies. Are you suggesting people shouldn't get paid to do their work?

Algorithms are the machines of the 21st century.

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Re:“MP3 is dead” missed the real, much better story by alsadi on Wednesday May 17, 2017 @12:02PM (#14359783)
The court rule in Bilski case, does not agree with you. You can't patent math. It's not my political stance, it's the law. You are not supposed to patent formulas.
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