Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice
David Benham <dabenham@gmail.com> Thu, 07 November 2013 22:40 UTC
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Date: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 14:40:08 -0800
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From: David Benham <dabenham@gmail.com>
To: rtcweb@ietf.org
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Subject: Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice
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Extrapolating from an EULA what one's rtcweb dev/distribution license rights is likely way off base. You can read the MPEG-LA's FAQ here ... http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Documents/AVC_TermsSummary.pdf Note the graphic and text for "(b) sublicenses" on pages 2 and 3. The commercial royalties described are targeted at Service Providers of on-demand titles and/or broadcast TV over the Internet with greater 100K subscribers and great remuneration (aka, subscription or ad revenue). Think the likes of Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc, using the video tag and *not* the support-desk in your example or commercial, real-time communications. Disclaimer: *IANAL* David Benham Self - *From*: Florian Weimer <fw at deneb.enyo.de <fw@DOMAIN.HIDDEN>> - *To*: rtcweb at ietf.org <rtcweb@DOMAIN.HIDDEN> - *Date*: Thu, 07 Nov 2013 20:30:31 +0100 - *List-id*: Real-Time Communication in WEB-browsers working group list < rtcweb.ietf.org> ------------------------------ After reviewing the end-user patent licensing statements regarding H.264/AVC of various products (Microsoft Windows, Adobe Flash, a Canon camera, Skype, and some Cisco manuals), I'm puzzled what the net effect of the Cisco licensing effort will be. The most striking aspect of the current licensing regime is that the existing platform codecs are exclusively licensed for "personal, non-commercial activity". As far as I can tell, this means that I cannot use these codecs to develop my own software and distribute it without a separate MPEG LA license. Furthermore, if I engage in commercial activity involving H.264 streams (such as paid teaching or technical support over Skype, to give an example that seems fairly relevant to me), I need a separate license as well, even if I use already existing software for which the vendor has acquired patent licenses. This even applies to professional video (conferencing) equipment. I wonder what this means in the context of WebRTC. Would web application development be covered? What about commercial use of such web applications? Under the existing licensing practice, the answer appears to be that these activities need separate licenses. To me, that suggests that even after the Cisco effort, H.264 is still not a replacement for a royalty-free codec. Freedom from royalties for browser vendors is not sufficient if (web) application developers and end users do not benefit. (I know that the concrete licensing terms are not published yet, but I find it rather unlikely that Cisco has negotiated a better deal for the non-paying general public than for its own paying customers.)
- [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice Florian Weimer
- Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice David Benham
- Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice Florian Weimer
- Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice David Benham
- Re: [rtcweb] Current H.264 licensing practice Tim Panton new