Andrew Gillham <gillham@vaultron.com> writes:

> There is no link, and no information about where to get the tarball, so
> that should not be any violation of DMCA or whatever.  If it is still
> considered to be making it "easy" to install ac3dec then I would argue
> that InstallSHIELD, gcc, InternetExplorer, Windows, any TCP/IP protocol
> stack, etc fall into the same "make it easy to load software"
> category.

There's no DMCA issue. It's an issue of contributory patent
infringement. I doubt a judge would agree that the tools you list are
in the same category as a system that allows one to type "make all
install" and have patent-infringing software ready-to-go.

But I'm not a lawyer, and so I'm not even qualified to back this up
with further legal justification. If you'd like to discuss this, book
some time with your local friendly patent lawyer.

> Unfortunately The NetBSD Foundation probably doesn't have the resources to
> even question the Dolby demands, let alone defend themselves in court over
> a few Kbytes of a Makefile and one URL "link" buried it in.

There's that, too.

        - Nathan