this post was submitted on 21 Dec 2023
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Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

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[–] nakal@kbin.social 173 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Programs are mathematical proofs. If maths cannot be patented, software can't be, either.

[–] GeniusIsme@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Proofs can be represented as programs, not the other way around. Also, USA allows for algorithm parents, and algorithms are maths. While I agree with you, your reasoning is not correct.

[–] hglman@lemmy.ml 11 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No, the proof - program correspondence is in both directions.

[–] GeniusIsme@lemmy.world -1 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Correspondence is quite a weak relation. Very far from one being another.

[–] sukhmel@programming.dev 2 points 2 years ago

I'd say if you ask a mathematician, they would disagree with you. But maybe that depends on how far they have gone into maths from common sense

[–] nakal@kbin.social 1 points 2 years ago

That's why it's also called Curry-Howard isomorphism.

[–] MachineFab812@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 years ago

Correspondence is not correlation.

[–] menas@lemmy.wtf 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Judges and Justices are not that precise. They aim to preserved public order before anything else. If a whole industry is based on a questionable interpretation of patent, they is a lot of chances that judges would agree on it. Even in countries where you could not patent algorythm, industries patent the documentation, the "software design", the brand name, the illustrations used, and aggregates everything together, to say they own it. And it works.

TL;DR : Class Justice

[–] RePsyche@lemmy.world 113 points 2 years ago (3 children)

This is all well and good, and where’s the Traffic Cone!?!

[–] chellomere@lemmy.world 30 points 2 years ago

Under Santa's hat

[–] CoffeePorter@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago

Asking the real questions here.

[–] misophist@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

The cone is the logo for their most popular project (VLC media player), but this is a message from the organization as a whole, which has the logo you currently see. It is not specifically about that one project.

[–] KISSmyOS@lemmy.world 59 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

Wait, I thought all countries followed US laws???

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social 80 points 2 years ago (2 children)

What are these "other country" things you mention? You mean the place where war happens and immigrants come from? I didn't know they had computers there.

[–] lukas@lemmy.haigner.me 11 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

They have computers, but only a privileged few know how to use them: https://youtu.be/IrCQh1usdzE?t=944

[–] SomethingBurger@jlai.lu 4 points 2 years ago

They're probably talking about Puerto Rico.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 49 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Please be sarcasm... Please be sarcasm... Oh I pray to the dark void of the universe that this is sarcasm.

[–] KpntAutismus@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

it absolutely is, take it from an autistic person.

(autstic people often don't recognize or can't properly replicate sarcasm, which is why i often use /s)

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 18 points 2 years ago

Yeah, but I've also met several (Americans, usually) who had takes like these and... Uh... Unfortunately meant it.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

To some extent this can be mitigated by therapy. I'm serious.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Or we leave people be how they are?

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Therapy is about leaving people more "how they are" than before. It's not about making them behave according to expectations.

[–] haui_lemmy@lemmy.giftedmc.com 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I know very well what therapy is about. Decades of experience. Being an autistic person and working through a life of internalized ableism and discrimination works wonders for recognizing it. Not being able to understand sarcasm or other subtext is no problem for me, it is a problem for my surroundings so they can go to therapy for it. I go to therapy to learn to not accept being ousted for being different.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Well, for me it's only 2 months of experience, being 28.

I go to therapy to learn to not accept being ousted for being different.

That's right too.

EDIT: I meant - when you are not permanently suppressed by the things which you don't need, like trying to not be yourself, you may have easier time understanding sarcasm and subtexts too.

[–] mriormro@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago

While the mistake is a common one, all countries have actually agreed to jointly follow bird law in these sorts of matters.

[–] Usernamealreadyinuse@lemmy.world 48 points 2 years ago (3 children)
[–] ggppjj@lemmy.world 133 points 2 years ago (2 children)

They don't recognize or value software patents because they aren't recognized by the government where the project is run from.

[–] DeltaTangoLima@reddrefuge.com 55 points 2 years ago (1 children)
[–] moitoi@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Seeing the last law on immigration :/

[–] Mubelotix@jlai.lu 6 points 2 years ago

We got fucked real bad but we are coming for our rulers and will take down their previous work

[–] BetaDoggo_@lemmy.world 103 points 2 years ago (1 children)

French laws don't recognize software patents so videolan doesn't either. This is likely a reference to vlc supporting h265 playback without verifying a license. These days most opensource software pretends that the h265 patents and licensing fees don't exist for convenience. I believe libavcodec is distributed with support enabled by default.

Nearly every device with hardware accelerated h265 support has already had the license paid for, so there's not much point in enforcing it. Only large companies like Microsoft and Red Hat bother.

[–] Blaster_M@lemmy.world 70 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

They bother because they are US based and can be hounded by the patent ~~trolls~~ holders

[–] PupBiru@kbin.social 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

let’s not go too far though… the holders of h264/h265 did put a lot of money and effort into developing the codec: a new actual thing… they are not patent trolls, who by definition produce nothing new other than legal mess

[–] Thrashy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago

On the other hand, Fraunhofer is obnoxious enough about licensing and enforcement that companies like Google invested similar money and effort into developing open-source codecs just to avoid dealing with them.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.zip 2 points 2 years ago

There are good FOSS codecs and there are good proprietary codecs. The latter are being standardized where the former may not, and pushed where they are not needed.

It's not a market choice.

[–] Chewy7324@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 years ago

Additionally, companies doing business in the US also follow US laws. If they don't, they could still be sued overseas (or stop doing business over there).

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 66 points 2 years ago (1 children)

America has the odd idea that software is considered patentable. Since the developers of VLC are French, and software isn't considered patentable in France, they're saying "Va te faire enculer" to people who want to sue them.

[–] TheGalacticVoid@lemm.ee -1 points 2 years ago

Why is it odd to be able to patent software specifically? I don't see how it's different from medicine or anything physical. To clarify, I'm not arguing the merits of patents in general, just asking why software is different.

[–] pistachio@lemmy.ml 47 points 2 years ago (1 children)

AFAIK european laws only allow to patent "inventions". Software is considered to be a series of "words" in whatever programming language you're using and, like sentences, it's not an invention and can't be patented.

On the other hand, software-assisted inventions can be patented as a whole.

With that said, software can still be considered a "work" protected by copyright laws.

[–] 520@kbin.social 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

And that's fine. VLC does their own implementation of codecs so that's not an issue. It's the patents that make it an issue.

[–] Metz@lemmy.world 25 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] SchizoDenji@lemm.ee 22 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

Fuck that, I like that it's different. I feel a lot of the logos are too similar and boring.

This one has the retro feel to it.

[–] misophist@lemmy.world 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I don't think they were complaining about the design. It invoked a memory of a beloved video game studio from the past that had a similar logo (Westwood Studios) and they are a bit heartbroken. I didn't take their comment as an actual complaint against VideoLAN's logo.

[–] Metz@lemmy.world 9 points 2 years ago
[–] sus@programming.dev 4 points 2 years ago

graphic design is my passion

[–] ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That’s not their stance, that’s French law

[–] menas@lemmy.wtf 1 points 2 years ago

I think it both. Not all software or codec provider aim to apply the EU and French laws. Quite the contrary

[–] Saoirse@hexbear.net 10 points 2 years ago

Utterly based.

[–] NeryK@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 years ago

You can hear a more detailed explanation on VLC's stance from the man himself (JB Kempf) in the FOSS pod S1E11 episode around 22:10.

Basically:

  • Not that many threats become lawsuits
  • Patent trolling is countered with publicly accessible prior art
  • Having no money is also a good deterrent