Re: What the heck is Behringer doing?

[Richard Zvonar <zvonar@zvonar.com>]

At 10:23 PM +0200 6/10/01, Martin Tauchen wrote:

>If we trace it really strict and puristic,the whole digital Music products
>were ripped off from Standford University.FM Synthesis was developed 
>there in the seventies,a first commercial product-the DX7 was 
>released in 1983.
>The same for phyical Modelling.Developed in the early eighties and
>manifested as consumertool in 1993 -again Yamaha with VL1.

Not ripped off in these cases. Yamaha has a long-standing set of 
licensing agreements with Stanford, dating to John Chowning's 1975 
linear FM patent. Physical modeling was similarly licensed from 
Stanford.

I'm not aware of any claims against Yamaha of infringement. In fact, 
my impression of the company is generally positive. They have a good 
reputation for supporting research and education, and I've personally 
found them (and by this I mean the individuals I've dealt with) to be 
cordial and even generous.

In contrast, I have no such warm and fuzzy feelings for the rippers 
of the world, such as Behringer and Fernandes.

That isn't to say there aren't problems. When Yamaha secured patents 
on linear FM applications to musical instrument design, this meant 
that other manufacturers were obliged to either pay them licensing 
fees or cease to use the technique in their own instruments. Some 
smaller manufacturers, such as Buchla, had already been using FM, but 
didn't think to apply for a patent.

Another case that I have problems with is Coda's patents on 
interactive computer music and score following. They struck a deal 
with Roger Dannenberg, who had the foresight to secure a patent in 
1985, and Coda insisted that their patents applied to all score 
following algorithms. Other researchers who had independently arrived 
at score following were in theory obliged to pay Coda for a license.
-- 

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Richard Zvonar, PhD
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