"... some key MP3 patents have been allowed to expire ..."
"... some key MP3 patents have been allowed to expire ..."
Uh, no it doesn't work like that. Even if the Fraunhofer Institute wanted to keep the technology under patent, there's a point where the law says that just not possible. Patents allow the holder to benefit from their work for a period of time (licence fees in this case) and when they expire anyone can use that innovation.
So is MP3 dead (like The Register's headline on a recent article claimed)? Hardly. Billions of devices, services, operating systems and applications out there support the format and now it's patent free (and thus license free) anyone can add it to their devices or software at no cost.
MP3 may not be the best audio codec (and I'm pretty sure no matter which one you claim is, someone is going to disagree with you) but it's good enough for many things and it isn't going away any time soon.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
