HEVC Patent Pools: Where do we stand? - Hector Ribera

Many patents have been asserted to cover various aspects of the HEVC technology. While patents for earlier standards have more or less converged into a primary patent pool, patent holders claiming ownership of various HEVC features seem to be drifting in multiple directions. We will discuss the state of the various patent pools forming around the HEVC standard.

Presented at Demuxed 2017 by Hector Ribera

Transcript

1. HEVC Patent Pools: where do we stand? Hector Ribera Marton Ribera Schumann & Chang LLP Demuxed 2017
2. HEVC Patent Pools
3. MPEG LA • Pool of 3,300 “standard essential” patents world-wide • Roster of 37 licensors and 176 licensees • License required for “HEVC products sold to end users” • Term: May 1, 2013 – end of life in 5-year periods • US $0.20 per unit after 100K units each year with cap of $25M/year
4. MPEG LA – Licensors Alpha Digitech, Inc.
 
 Apple Inc.
 
 BBC
 
 Digital Insights Inc.
 
 ETRI
 
 Fujitsu Limited
 
 Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
 
 Hitachi Maxell, Ltd.
 
 HUMAX Co., Ltd.
 
 IBEX PT Holdings
 
 Sejong University
 
 Infobridge Pte. Ltd. Intellectual Discovery Co., LTD. 
 
 Intellectual Value, Inc. JVC KENWOOD Corporation
 KAIST
 Korean Broadcasting System 
 KPIC Ltd.
 KT Corp.
 Kwangwoon University 
 M&K Holdings Inc.
 NEC Corporation
 Nippon Hoso Kyokai (NHK)
 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation (NTT). NTT DOCOMO, INC. Orange SA Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
 Siemens Corp.
 SK Planet Co., Ltd.
 SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
 SungKyunKwan University 
 Tagivan II LLC
 Columbia University 
 Korea Aerospace University
 Kyung Hee University
 Vidyo, Inc.
5. HEVC Advance • Pool of over 2,000 “standard essential” patents world-wide • 9 licensors and 30 licensees • Licensed required for “devices” and “content distribution” • Royalties on some application software currently waived • Fixed 5 year terms non-terminable and automatic renewal • Complex rate structure
6. HEVC Advance - Royalties • Devices: branded manufacturer or seller to end- users for private use Mobile $0.4 - $0.533 per device 4K TV $1.20 - $1.60 per unit Other $0.80 - $1.076 per device • Content: distributors that receive payment from users or creators for physical media Title-by-title $0.025 per title Subscription $0.005- $0.025 monthly per user (3 year ramp up) Media $0.025 per disc/title
7. HEVC Advance - Licensors Dolby Laboratories, Inc. ETRI GE Video Compression, LLC HFI Innovation (MediaTek) Koninklijke Philips N.V. Mitsubishi Electric Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc.
8. Velos media • Created in April 2017 • HEVC patent portfolios from Ericsson, Panasonic, Qualcomm, Sharp and Sony • Royalty rates not set • Licensed required for “end user product companies manufacturing or selling HEVC-enabled devices, … such as TVs, phones, computers and tablets” • Content licenses – possibly in the future
9. Summary • Device companies are the main target for HEVC patent pools • Patent royalties may be in the $65M-100M/year • Content providers only targeted by HEVC Advance • Software developers have limited exposure • Free Internet streaming not subject to royalties
10. Additional IP Risks • Non-pool patent owners • Technicolor • Patent trolls • How about “royalty free” options? • VP9 • AV1 • Royalty-free patent license grant from all licensees and members of the Alliance for Open Media working group • http://aomedia.org/license/patent/
11. Questions? Hector Ribera hector@martonribera.com