You also have to take into account that I don''t want to break the law. I am sure I could think up a million scams but it is not worth the risk.
-Greg Koreman

quote:
Pardon my naive understanding of the law, but wouldn''t the burden of proof lie with the plaintif (e.g., Thomson would have to prove that at least 5000 people did download your game)?

Yes, of course. But proving that more than 5000 people downloaded something on the internet is not very hard (esp. with corporate lawyers...). 5000 people is nothing, if you put your code on popular freeware and shareware download sites. You OTOH, if you want to defend against the claim, would have to prove the opposite.

What can help a big deal (and should put you more or less on the safe side), is using shareware with a registration key. And unlock the mp3 relevant parts only if the user is registered. That way, you can keep track of the registrations, and that would also constitute a very good argument in court. Of course, you''d need to stop selling at 5000 copies (or purchase the license).

Oh, and btw, here again: the OGG/Vorbis format, license free, patent free, good.