Are MP3′s Illegal? (Fact? Hype? You be the judge!)

I am in the airport right now on the way back from speaking in Las Vegas.

At the conference, 3 presenters got up and claimed that people publishing content in MP3 format who were not paying licensing fees were subject to civil and criminal penalties and fines.

They further stated that the company that owns the patent rights to MP3 – http://www.mp3licensing.com were building a spider and had hired a staff of lawyers to pursue people online who are viloating their rights (and to find a way to collect on royalty fees owed).

I actually tried to call the company that owns the patent to MP3, but since they are in France, I didn’t get very far.

I have several emails out to companies and attorneys I have relationships with to check out the facts in the story.

My buddy Michel Fortin has made what I consider an intelligent post about the issue here: http://www.MichelFortin.com

I found a pretty interesting pdf report here that you might consider reading on the issue:
http://www.nicktemple.com/mp3patentissues.pdf

I’m doing research now and will have an article for you tomorrow.