Since 2000 Philips contacts companies and software writers with claims concerning two MP3 related patents. Philips does so indirectly. American companies and software writers are contacted by Audio MPEG. European companies and softwarewriters are contacted by Sisvel. Philips demands licensing fees as high as one dollar per channel. Stereo output counts for two channels. It is not clear for how many channels Philips charges Microsoft with their XP operating system and MP3 playing software that can mix the output of multiple stereo MP3 decoders. The proposed licensing agreements have a duration of 5 years, while the prices of MP3 playing equipment are plummeting.
This patent describes how to distribute anything that is not a multiple of a unity. For example an astronomical year counts 365.2422 days. Since .2422 fractional days do not exist, at 45 BC Julius Caesar imposed the once in 4 years leap-year system. Pope Gregory XIII finetuned this in March 1582. As a result every 100th year is not a leap year, except for each multiple of 400 years, and except for multiples of 4000 years. Since 1990 Philips claims the digital version of this technology.
Technical summary.
This patent describes the use of the Philips "Leap Year" patent in a transmission system, which explicitly names transmitter/coder and receiver/decoder. Since MP3 players can only be seen as readers/decoders, not even as receivers, it is unclear as to what this patent should apply.
Technical summary.
Prior art:
Comparable cases
Miscellaneous