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View Full Version : Legal to distribute codecs and nonfree stuff in US?



smartboyathome
April 10th, 2008, 02:23 PM
This came up in another thread (here (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=750756)), and I thought I would ask in a separate topic to keep that one on what people suggest to include. Anyway, what I am wondering is if it is legal to distribute stuff like Mplayer or codecs - or even flash - in the US. Some people say it is while this article (http://www.madpenguin.org/cms/?m=show&id=8093) says it isn't legal. So my question is, would it be legal to put together a remaster of Ubuntu and distribute it with all the cocdecs, nonfree stuff, and Mplayer preistalled?

Ozor Mox
April 10th, 2008, 02:27 PM
So my question is, would it be legal to put together a remaster of Ubuntu and distribute it with all the cocdecs, nonfree stuff, and Mplayer preistalled?

That's Linux Mint, and no it isn't legal in the US, that's why they offer a lite version as well. As far as I know only the US is affected by this because of their backwards acceptance of software patents.

VCSkier
June 18th, 2008, 09:48 PM
What exactly does it mean to "distribute?" Is it illegal for me to seed the Linux Mint torrent? I'm currently seeding several distributions, including Linux Mint, and they are using quite a bit of upload bandwidth. I wouldn't be surprised if my ISP gets curious, and I'd hate to get my ports closed for doing something illegal...

LaRoza
June 18th, 2008, 09:57 PM
The DMCA technically forbids it, however, I know of no cases of users being targetted for it.

VLC uses such technology, even on Windows, and it hasn't had any issues.

madjr
June 18th, 2008, 11:17 PM
The DMCA technically forbids it, however, I know of no cases of users being targetted for it.

VLC uses such technology, even on Windows, and it hasn't had any issues.

exactly

technically users can do as they please (well no one can really stop us).

but if canonical did it, then it would be harassed by the boyscoutnovel guys and it might be an opportunity for m$ to take legal actions or enforce patent agreements.

linuxmint can do it without no one judging it because it's not really a company or a big force in the linux world that m$ considers a threat.