Apparently, Haiku is not a unified whole on this. Some stuff that is patented (subpixel font hinting) is disabled, but other patented stuff (MP4/MP3 codecs) is left enabled. Basically, Haiku has two options here:
1. "all" -- leave MP4/MP3 codecs enabled, and enable subpixel hinting (well, why not if we're going to leave the MP4/MP3 codecs in? Lots of Linux distros do this.) 2. "nothing" -- disable MP4/MP3, leave subpixel hinting disabled. MP4 probably won't be missed, but MP3 surely will. And sadly, there is a patent-free MP4 codec (OpenH264) now, but this does nothing to help the MP3 problem.
I personally say "all", as nearly all Linux distros go that route (Ubuntu got a MP3 license, but not an MP4 or subpixel hinting one AFAIK, and I don't see why we should waste valuable funds on patent licenses). But I'm not a lawyer :P
-waddlesplash
