Parker HigginsThe final remaining patent on the MP3 format — "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING DIGITAL SIGNALS EMPLOYING BIT ALLOCATION USING COMBINATIONS OF DIFFERENT THRESHOLD MODELS TO ACHIEVE DESIRED BIT RATES" — has expired today.
lexpierce@xor almost: "DIGITAL CODING PROCESS FOR TRANSMISSION OR STORAGE OF ACOUSTICAL SIGNALS BY TRANSFORMING OF SCANNING VALUES INTO SPECTRAL COEFFICIENTS" is this August, and "PROCESS FOR REDUCING DATA IN THE TRANSMISSION AND/OR STORAGE OF DIGITAL SIGNALS FROM SEVERAL INTERDEPENDENT CHANNELS" is this december. But we are getting close! or, use Ogg :D