Re: [rtcweb] H.264 IPR status (Re: VP8 litigation in Germany?)

David Singer <singer@apple.com> Tue, 12 March 2013 22:05 UTC

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From: David Singer <singer@apple.com>
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To: Harald Alvestrand <harald@alvestrand.no>
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Subject: Re: [rtcweb] H.264 IPR status (Re: VP8 litigation in Germany?)
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On Mar 11, 2013, at 20:20 , Harald Alvestrand <harald@alvestrand.no> wrote:

> 
> I know of 3 sources of IPR information related to H.264:
> 
> - The ISO database of disclosures ( http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/patents)
> - The MPEG-LA list of IPR available for licensing via their license pool
> - The list that Cliff Reader did related to H.264 Baseline work in MPEG
> 
> The first 2 are public on the Web; I don't know the status of the third one (MPEG doesn't make its input documents public by default).
> 
> I think it's fair to ask the proponents of H.264 to present the IPR situation for their candidate codec; saying that it is "well known" is not the same as having an input contribution to the IETF stating what the situation is.
> 

I think we're past the formal contribution deadline, alas.  However, you are basically right, with perhaps one or two additions, and a caveat.

The caveat is that the AVC/H.264 specification contains (a) AVC itself and (b) scalable video coding (SVC) and (c) multi-view coding (MVC).  So the complete list includes IPR on SVC and MVC as well.  You might 

The union of these gives, I think, a very thorough view (there is, of course, a lot of overlap):

1. The ITU database can be searched;  the formal name at the ITU is H.264 and the search page is <http://www.itu.int/ipr/IPRSearch.aspx?iprtype=PS>.
2. The ISO database is a download and manual search for 14496-10 (the format spec. number), the page is <http://www.iso.org/iso/standards_development/patents>.
3. MPEG is formally part of the joint ISO/IEC technical committee;  it may be the IEC database at <http://www.iec.ch/members_experts/tools/patents/patent_policy.htm> helps (again, 14496-10).
4. The MPEG-LA list of licensors and licensed patents in their patent pool is also public at their web site. <http://www.mpegla.com/main/programs/AVC/Pages/Intro.aspx>

I hope this helps;  in most cases you will see company names, contact information, and the declared IPR;  in the MPEG-LA case, a summary of the license is also available, and of course the license can be requested.

I look forward to the same clarity, completeness, and commitment not only to 'F' (free, already stated) but also 'RAND' (reasonable and non-discrimatory terms) for VP8.  I understand it should be coming soon, and I appreciate all the work you and others are doing to bring it to the table.

David Singer
Multimedia and Software Standards, Apple Inc.