Getting media to work on Linux is extra advanced than chances are you’ll suppose. Not due to the technical facets (though that, too, is fairly difficult), however due to the legality of distributing proprietary software program and patent-encumbered codecs. Whereas firms like Microsoft can seize a license and bake the tech into their merchandise, it is rather a lot much less possible for Linux distributions designed to be freely downloaded and redistributed.
Linux builders have used workarounds for this limitation for many years now; in the event you’ve ever downloaded a Linux distro after which spent a while enabling third-party repositories to get multimedia codecs, you already know what it is like. However one patent from 2001 prevented DivX movies from being patent-free worldwide, and the excellent news is, it has simply expired.
Siemens AG filed a patent again in 2001
Its patent household would linger for over 25 years
Our story begins again on April ninth, 2001, when Siemens AG filed the Brazilian patent BR PI0109962-0, titled “course of for storing and processing picture data from successive photos over time.” This patent was listed as a part of the MPEG-4 Visible Patent Portfolio, which was administered by MPEG LA, which might later turn out to be the Through Licensing Alliance.
For years, these patents held true. The truth is, in an MPEG LA PDF document from October 2025, you possibly can see the ultimate two unexpired patents on the very first web page. The primary is Dolby, which held patent BR PI0113271-7; this one expired on January 26, 2026. For the remainder of 2026, the one factor stopping the tech from being patent-free worldwide was that one Siemens AG patent.
Lastly, on July 19, 2026, the Siemens AG patent expired. With that patent gone, it eliminated the ultimate patent impediment stopping worldwide patent-free standing.
And having no issues is best than a small downside
The rationale why this was a cool milestone within the Linux group is all the way down to how the regulation handles these applied sciences. See, Xvid is a bizarre case the place the software program is free and open-source, however there have been legal guidelines protecting what you could possibly really do with it. So sure, the Linux group had entry to the software program simply high-quality, however the rights holders requested for royalties for MPEG-4 decoders and encoders bought and made in particular international locations.
That is to not say that the Linux group hit a brick wall when it got here to publishing Xvid help. The truth is, Fedora published xvidcore again in 2023, even when the patent was nonetheless alive and kicking. However that did not imply the Brazilian patent was nugatory; it meant that folks might distribute MPEG-4 Half 2 with out worrying about any authorized points in any respect.
Not a lot will change for Linux customers or with MP4 patent legal guidelines
You most likely will not discover something totally different in the event you’re exterior Brazil
So does this imply that each single MP4 file has now damaged freed from its patent jail? Effectively, no. This particular patent coated MPEG-4 Half 2. The movies we watch on trendy techniques utilizing H.264/AVC tech are operating off MPEG-4 Half 10, and that remains to be very a lot coated by patents. So, yeah, the Linux group is not free to take the MP4 format and run with it wherever it pleases.
Nevertheless, this does mark the tip of a dangling authorized problem that has lastly come to an finish 1 / 4 of a century after it was set. It could not revolutionise the Linux scene, and chances are you’ll not even discover that something adjustments in your day by day workflow, nevertheless it’s a cool perception as to how the open-source group has to work round these restrictions.
Brazil’s MPEG-4 Half 2 patent did not change rather a lot, nevertheless it’s nonetheless good that it is gone
On the finish of the day, Brazil’s patent did not do a complete lot to stymie Linux. Distros like Fedora distributed the codex anyway, and it did not come underneath fireplace with authorized points. Nevertheless, it’s an fascinating perception into how a single patent made 25 years in the past can act as a minor headache to the open-source group 25 years down the road.
