[M4IF Discuss] MPEG-4 license fees: implementing

[Peter Haighton]

Stef,
Before anyone replies to this email, I should clarify that it is not the
MPEG-4 Industry Forum that has set the patents. The M4IF has nothing what
so ever in setting patent licensing terms. For more information please see
http://www.m4if.org/patents/clarify.php, which helps to describe this
relationship.
Peter
--
Peter Haighton
VideoSpheres Inc.
84 Hines Road
Kanata, Ontario
Canada, K2K 3G3
Tel: (613) 270-9646 x3022
Fax: (613) 271-9442
email: peterh   VideoSpheres.com
See http://www.m4if.org for the latest on MPEG-4
-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-admin   lists.m4if.org
[mailto:discuss-admin   lists.m4if.org]On Behalf Of Stef van der Ziel
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2024 4:29 PM
To: Streaming Media MPEG-4
Cc: discuss   lists.m4if.org; streaming-server-users   lists.apple.com;
QuickTime Streaming
Subject: [M4IF Discuss] MPEG-4 license fees: implementing
Hi lists,
Besides the yes-or-no discussion, I see a few practical problems with
implementing the 2 cents per hour licensing scheme for MPEG-4:
- I can live with licensing on this basis (sure, it's more expensive
than no fee but it's not a very expensive fee), *BUT ONLY under the
condition that M4if provides me with accurate tracking and billing
software that's easy to implement on any streaming box. You want me to
handle tracking and billing? Give me all the tools I need. Don't make me
pay/invest/develop or work overtime for handling your licensing fees.
This software should not just track and bill for the sum of streams, but
on a per-user basis (since any streaming server can be a shared server
instead of having just one owner!) I need to be able to bill on a per
client / per stream basis because even our clients (mostly AV / TV
companies, events, corporates and universities) use their accounts for
multiple clients. So this system has to be very flexible and be able to
run on W2000, Linux and MacOS X since all major streaming servers which
intend to support MPEG-4 run on these platforms. Is it up to the
developer of this streaming server software (say Apple with
QuickTime/Darwin Streaming Server) to implement these tracking and
billing features? IMO, M4if should ask a commercial company to invest
and develop such tools. Let this company become a member of M4if so they
can make a profit out of the fees.
- How can M4if tell the difference between a regular (quicktime) stream
and a (quicktime) stream with mpeg-4 content?
- I understood that if the content is made available freely, that no
fees will be charged? Is this true and if yes, how will M4if be able to
tell the difference between paid and free content?
- Clients don't like post-calculated billing: they want to pay a regular
monthly fee so they can budgetize in front for the whole year. This
implicates that a streaming hosting account (which also includes
services for Real, QuickTime and Windows Media streaming) will be more
expensive even if the client doesn't use MPEG-4 at all. I'm interested
in M4if's opinion here.
Stef
FYI: Two years ago, I developed a streaming server platform called
Jet-Stream which supports QuickTime, Real and Windows Media streaming
from one single box. Jet-Stream has quickly gained popularity overhere
in the Netherlands because it's easy for multiple users which all can
stream in any supported format from their private single FTP account. We
provide these hosting facilities ourselves and also sell these systems
to larger clients so they can have all of their students or employees
stream from internal accounts. I anticipate full support for MPEG-4
because Apple announced native support with DSS4/QTSS 4.
  P.S. I designed a very nice MPEG-4 logo some time ago. How do I jump on
this licen$ing-owner$hip-wagon? ;-P
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