[MPlayer-dev-eng] FFII software patent demo, politics, KiSS

[James Courtier-Dutton]

Enrico Weigelt wrote:
> 
> We can be quite sure that every codec and most of the rest of mplayer
> is somewhere conflicting with some patent. Most times one patent is
> enough to make the whole software illegal.
> 
> So the best way seems to always warn that risk is high to be criminal
> when using or distributing the code.
> (printing it out on the console should be enough)
> 

If something is illegal, it is not necessarily criminal.
At least in the UK, there is a difference between civil and criminal law.
You can only go to prison if you break a criminal law. You cannot be put 
in prison for breaking a civil law.
Patents and copyright violations are civil law.