April 19th, 2002
Created this page with up to date legal information regarding MP3s, their licensing, and user rights. None of the information presented here is intended to be used as a legal guide - rather, as an educational area, and also an informative one. No material presented here should be used for piracy of any form, or used as an excuse for it.
MP3 Licensing
At this time, MP3s are being subjected to much debate. Fair Use allows the person who owns a CD, or other form of media, to convert their music to MP3 format for use on a computer, or an MP3 player. MP3 in and of itself is a media - though not tangible - you can't throw it. But you certainly can listen to it!
Gateway has surprised me most out of all the companies here - by supporting the MP3 and it's use. They cover many user rights questions right here and also have some cool MP3z! I'm jamming to NGSundown.mp3 right now. I liked the original, I dig this one too!
Developer Licensing
Though many people believe that the MP3 Standard is completely free and open, and that the ISO reference source code is as well (source code being the actual programming used to decipher it). This has lead to quite a few questions - at least on my part!
By bopping about on the internet, and stopping at the occasional c00l site, I came across a lot of information that is very pertinent. First of all, The Fraunhofer Institute (F.I., because I don't want to mispell their name on the rest of the page LOL)has been the main developer of MP3 - also known as MPEG Audio Layer-3. The present MP3 standard is based mainly on their work, and they have protected their work with patents. They decided to ally with Thomson Multimedia (RCA) and create a joint patents portfolio - which means, to date, they collectively control 18 patents related to MP3. :o Surprised? Yes, so was I!
Reportedly, in September 1998, F.I. sent letters to several developers of free (not really) ISO-source based encoders (or 'rippers), making it clear that F.I. wanted a license fee for their work and patents. To date, only RCA and F.I. have been the only companies requesting fees - but it is quite likely that companies such as AT&T may ask for fees in the future. It should be noted, however, that the MP3 standard was established in 1992, and that nobody but F.I./RCA have requested fees.
If you are a developer interested in the MP3 standard, the best way to get up to date information is to check the Mp3Licensing.com site. They have a very informative Q&A section for we coders. The good news is that the royalty fee is based on the revenue generated - and for some reason, game titles seem to have the best deal with a lump sum payment instead of a per unit payment. I found that pretty interesting, and I haven't figured out why that is... yet. You should check them out for official up to date prices.
