Opus isn’t patent free, and what’s worse it’s not particularly clear who owns what. The biggest patent pool is currently OpusPool but it’s not the only one.
Folks set up pools all the time, but somehow they never offer indemnification for completeness of the pool - because they can't.
See https://en.kangxin.com/html/2/218/219/220/11565.html for a few examples how the patent pool extortion scheme already went wrong in the past.
Even if it's AptX and Qualcomm issues you a license in exchange for money. I wouldn't even bet on being able to claw back these license costs after being ordered to destroy your AptX-equipped product after it ran into somebody else's patent.
The risk that this happens is _exactly_ the same for Opus or AptX.
I could claim to have a long list of patents against AptX. Anyone could.
Of course I'm not willing to disclose the list of patents at this time, but customers looking to be extorted may contact me privately.
It makes for some funny reading if you're familiar with the field. (This should not be construed as legal advice as to the validity of the pool)
https://assignment.uspto.gov/patent/index.html#/patent/searc...
It’s like someone selling a deed to land they don’t own, or leasing a property they don’t own to a tenant.
Few people will even bother to try, and if so, you keep them at a distance with some random bullshit (communication can break down _sooo_ easily), but it certainly poisons the well by adding a layer of FUD to the tech you're targeting with your claims.
Standard fare of patent pool operators, and it's high time to reciprocate.
The existence of a patent pool does not mean there are valid patent claims against it. But yes, you may be technically correct by saying "patent free" rather than "not infringing on any valid patents". That said historically Opus has had claims against it by patents that looked valid but upon closer investigation didn't actually cover what the codec does.
Just looks like FUD to me. Meanwhile, the patent pools of competing technologies definitely still don't offer indemnification they cover all patents, but have no problem paying a bunch of people to spew exactly this kind of FUD - they're the ones who tried to set up this "patent pool" to begin with!