Proofs can be represented as programs, not the other way around. Also, USA allows for algorithm parents, and algorithms are maths. While I agree with you, your reasoning is not correct.
The cone is the logo for their most popular project (VLC media player), but this is a message from the organization as a whole, which has the logo you currently see. It is not specifically about that one project.
AFAIK european laws only allow to patent “inventions”. Software is considered to be a series of “words” in whatever programming language you’re using and, like sentences, it’s not an invention and can’t be patented.
On the other hand, software-assisted inventions can be patented as a whole.
With that said, software can still be considered a “work” protected by copyright laws.
America has the odd idea that software is considered patentable. Since the developers of VLC are French, and software isn’t considered patentable in France, they’re saying “Va te faire enculer” to people who want to sue them.
French laws don’t recognize software patents so videolan doesn’t either. This is likely a reference to vlc supporting h265 playback without verifying a license. These days most opensource software pretends that the h265 patents and licensing fees don’t exist for convenience. I believe libavcodec is distributed with support enabled by default.
Nearly every device with hardware accelerated h265 support has already had the license paid for, so there’s not much point in enforcing it. Only large companies like Microsoft and Red Hat bother.
Additionally, companies doing business in the US also follow US laws. If they don’t, they could still be sued overseas (or stop doing business over there).
I don’t think they were complaining about the design. It invoked a memory of a beloved video game studio from the past that had a similar logo (Westwood Studios) and they are a bit heartbroken. I didn’t take their comment as an actual complaint against VideoLAN’s logo.
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