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• Trolls in trouble

  6 juin 2013, par Mans — Law and liberty

  Life as a patent troll is hopefully set to get more difficult. In a memo describing patent trolls as a “drain on the American economy,” the White House this week outlined a number of steps it is taking to stem this evil tide. Chiming in, the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (where patent cases are heard) in a New York Times op-ed laments the toll patent trolling is taking on the industry, and urges judges to use powers already at their disposal to make the practice less attractive. However, while certainly a step in the right direction, these measures all fail to address the more fundamental properties of the patent system allowing trolls to exist in the first place.

  System and method for patent trolling

  Most patent trolling operations comprise the same basic elements :

  1. One or more patents with broad claims.
  2. The patents of (1) acquired by an otherwise non-practising entity (troll).
  3. The entity of (2) filing numerous lawsuits alleging infringement of the patents of (1).
  4. The lawsuits of (3) targeting end users or retailers.
  5. The lawsuits of (3) listing as plaintiffs difficult to trace shell companies.

  The recent legislative actions all take aim at the latter entries in this list. In so doing, they will no doubt cripple the trolls, but the trolls will remain alive, ready to resume their wicked ways once a new loophole is found in the system.

  To kill a patent troll

  As Judge Rader and his co-authors point out in the New York Times, “the problem stems largely from the fact that, [...] trolls have an important strategic advantage over their adversaries : they don’t make anything.” This is the heart of the troll, and this is where the blow should be struck. Our weapon shall be the mightiest judicial sword of all, the Constitution.

  The United States Constitution contains (in Article I, Section 8) the foundation for the patent system (emphasis mine) :

  The Congress shall have Power [...] To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries.

  Patent trolls are typically not inventors. They are merely hoarders of other people’s discarded inventions, and that allowing others to reap the benefits of an inventor’s work would somehow promote progress should be a tough argument. Indeed, it is the dissociation between investment and reward which has allowed the patent trolls to rise and prosper.

  In light of the above, the solution to the troll menace is actually strikingly simple : make patents non-transferable.

  Having the inventor retain the rights to his or her inventions (works for hire still being recognised), would render the establishment of non-practising entities, which most trolls are, virtually impossible. The original purpose of patents, to protect the investment of inventors, would remain unaffected, if not strengthened, by such a change.

  Links

  • Taking on Patent Trolls to Protect American Innovation
  • Fact Sheet : White House Task Force on High-Tech Patent Issues
  • Make Patent Trolls Pay in Court
  • Constitution of the United States

• Compiling qt project with use of ffmpeg on x64 system

  5 juin 2013, par Srv19

  I have a qt project that uses some ffmpeg functionality, that i have compiled previously on windows (x86) and ubuntu. However, its x86 binaries do not work correctly on x64 windows machine. I have tried compiling it but have run into a strange problem.

  All ffmpeg functions i use are listed as unresolved exgternals ; and the most pecicular thing is, their names all ahve a leading underscore attached to them (so, avformat_close_input -> _avformat_close_input etc). To be sure, i have downloaded latest ffmpeg libraries for x64 machines and run them through a dependency walker - no leading underscores anywhere.

  How to fix this problem ?

  Here is my .pro file :

  #-------------------------------------------------
  
  #
  
  # Project created by QtCreator 2013-05-17T10:55:01
  
  #
  
  #-------------------------------------------------
  
  
  
  
  
  QT       += core gui
  
  
  
  greaterThan(QT_MAJOR_VERSION, 4): QT += widgets
  
  
  
  TARGET = LPR_Demo
  
  TEMPLATE = app
  
  # The application version
  
  VERSION = 1.0
  
  
  
  # Define the preprocessor macro to get the application version in our application.
  
  DEFINES += APP_VERSION=\\\"$$VERSION\\\"
  
  SOURCES += main.cpp\
  
          mainwindow.cpp \
  
      imgProcessor.cpp \
  
      qpicturelabel.cpp \
  
      aboutdialog.cpp \
  
      state.cpp \
  
      qt_videoreader.cpp \
  
      roidialog.cpp \
  
      recognitionresult.cpp \
  
      ffmpeg_reader.cpp \
  
      label_videoplayer.cpp
  
  
  
  HEADERS  += mainwindow.h \
  
      imgProcessor.h \
  
      qpicturelabel.h \
  
      aboutdialog.h \
  
      state.h \
  
      qt_videoreader.h \
  
      roidialog.h \
  
      recognitionresult.h \
  
      global.h \
  
      ffmpeg_reader.h \
  
      label_videoplayer.h
  
  
  
  FORMS    += mainwindow.ui \
  
      aboutdialog.ui \
  
      roidialog.ui
  
  LPRDIR = $$PWD/LPR
  
  win32: LIBS += -L$$LPRDIR/bin/ -lliblpr
  
  unix:LIBS += -L$$LPRDIR/bin -lLPR
  
  
  
  INCLUDEPATH += $$LPRDIR/include
  
  
  
  DEPENDPATH += $$LPRDIR/include
  
  
  
  INCLUDEPATH += $$PWD/
  
  DEPENDPATH += $$PWD/
  
  
  
  #OTHER_FILES += \
  
  #    ffmpeg.pri
  
  include(ffmpeg.pri)
  
  #LIBS += -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale
  
  
  
  RESOURCES += \
  
      lpr_Res.qrc
  
  
  
  win32 {
  
  dlls_to_move.path += $$OUT_PWD/bin
  
  
  
  dlls_to_move.files += $$LPRDIR/bin/liblpr.dll
  
  
  
  QTDIR=C:/Qt/4.8.4/
  
  
  
  CONFIG (debug, debug|release) {
  
  
  
  dlls_to_move.files += $$QTDIR/bin/QtCored4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/bin/QtGuid4.dll
  
  
  
  }
  
  CONFIG (release, debug|release) {
  
  
  
  dlls_to_move.files += $$QTDIR/bin/QtCore4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/bin/QtGui4.dll
  
  }
  
  img_format.path += $$OUT_PWD/bin/imageformats
  
  CONFIG (debug, debug|release) {
  
  
  
  img_format.files += $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qgifd4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qicod4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qjpegd4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qmngd4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qsvgd4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qtgad4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qtiffd4.dll
  
  
  
  }
  
  CONFIG (release, debug|release) {
  
  
  
  img_format.files += $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qgif4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qico4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qjpeg4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qmng4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qsvg4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qtga4.dll \
  
      $$QTDIR/plugins/imageformats/qtiff4.dll
  
  }
  
  
  
  ffmpeg_dll.path += $$OUT_PWD/bin
  
  
  
  ffmpeg_dll.files += $$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH/avutil-*.dll \
  
      $$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH/avcodec-*.dll \
  
      $$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH/avformat-*.dll \
  
      $$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH/swscale-*.dll
  
  
  
  main_exe.path += $$OUT_PWD/bin
  
  CONFIG (debug, debug|release) {
  
  
  
  main_exe.files += $$OUT_PWD/debug/LPR_Demo.exe
  
  
  
  }
  
  CONFIG (release, debug|release) {
  
  main_exe.files += $$OUT_PWD/release/LPR_Demo.exe
  
  
  
  }
  
  INSTALLS += dlls_to_move img_format ffmpeg_dll main_exe
  
  }
  
  
  
  unix {
  
  CONFIG (release, debug|release) {
  
      QMAKE_PRE_LINK += rm LPR_Demo_cmpr LPR_Demo$$escape_expand(\n\t)
  
      QMAKE_POST_LINK += upx -9 -oLPR_Demo_cmpr LPR_Demo$$escape_expand(\n\t)
  
      QMAKE_POST_LINK += cp -v -u LPR_Demo_cmpr $$OUT_PWD/../artifacts/examples/qt_demo/bin/unix
  
  }
  
  }

  and here is pri file for ffmpeg :

  # Include the configuration file below in the QT .pro file, and modify the path accordingly.
  
  
  
  
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # FFMPEG: START OF CONFIGURATION BELOW ->
  
  # Copy these lines into your own project
  
  # Make sure to set the path variables for:
  
  # 1) ffmpeg_reader,
  
  # 2) FFMPEG include path (i.e. where the directories libavcodec, libavutil, etc. lie),
  
  # 3) the binary FFMPEG libraries (that must be compiled separately).
  
  # Under Linux path 2 and 3 may not need to be set as these are usually in the standard include and lib path.
  
  # Under Windows, path 2 and 3 must be set to the location where you placed the FFMPEG includes and compiled binaries
  
  # Note that the FFMPEG dynamic librairies (i.e. the .dll files) must be in the PATH
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # Modify here: set FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH and FFMPEG_INCLUDE_PATH
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  
  
  # Set FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the directory containing the FFmpeg import libraries (if needed - typically for Windows), i.e. the dll.a files
  
  win32:FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH = $$PWD/ffmpeg/lib
  
  
  
  unix: FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH = /usr/local/lib
  
  
  
  # Set FFMPEG_INCLUDE_PATH to point to the directory containing the FFMPEG includes (if needed - typically for Windows)
  
  win32:FFMPEG_INCLUDE_PATH = $$PWD/ffmpeg/include
  
  unix:FFMPEG_INCLUDE_PATH = /usr/local/include
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # Do not modify: FFMPEG default settings
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  
  
  
  
  # Set list of required FFmpeg libraries
  
  #unix:LIBS += -L$$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH
  
  unix:LIBS += -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale
  
  # Add the path
  
  win32:LIBS += -L$$FFMPEG_LIBRARY_PATH
  
  win32:LIBS += -lavformat -lavcodec -lavutil -lswscale
  
  INCLUDEPATH += $$FFMPEG_INCLUDE_PATH
  
  
  
  # Requied for some C99 defines
  
  DEFINES += __STDC_CONSTANT_MACROS
  
  
  
  # ##############################################################################
  
  # FFMPEG: END OF CONFIGURATION
  
  # ##############################################################################

• require —enable-gpl for using the frei0r filter

  13 juin 2013, par Stefano Sabatini

  require —enable-gpl for using the frei0r filter
  frei0r license is GPL.
  Based on a patch by Timothy Gu <timothygu99@gmail.com>.
  See thread :
  
  Subject : [FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH 1/2] LICENSE : Complete GPL’d external libraries list
  
  Date : Thu,  6 Jun 2013 18:55:30 -0700
  

  • [DH] LICENSE
  • [DH] configure