[M4IF Discuss] Apple settles MPEG-4 dispute?

[Rob Koenen]

> >Let's close this thread.
> 
>   Not quite yet...

Well, You are really addressing something else, that's fine.
I am not sure what you mean though. 
> In a very real sense, QuickTime already represents a royalty pool. 

Yes - and so do your DVD player product, your cell phone product, your
Real player, your computer, your operating system, and on and on. What 
am I missing?
Apple providing a license to QT (and everyting it includes) to its 
end-users is the same what any player provider does, including 
Real, MSFT, Envivio etc.
Note that this is not the same as licensors providing Apple with a 
"make and sell" -- or "give-away" -- license. I do not envisage Apple or 
anyone in a comparable position to give or sell sublicenses, allowing 
others to create (MPEG-4 or like) technology and selling that.
Also note that end-users will never directly pay license fees, and hardly
ever pass them on directly. There is a certain cost of creating a product,
and there are ways to making money with it. Don't get the two confused.
Best,
Rob
> Actually Jeff may have raised some interesting points. Apple has a 
> significant pool of intellectual property to use at the bargaining 
> table. It would appear that Apple is very much in the mode of 
> providing the basic version of the QuickTime players free, just as 
> portions of the OS are now Open Source.  And I have seen no 
> indication that Apple seeks royalties for the QuickTime file format, 
> which has a great deal of overlap with the the Mpeg-4 File Format.
> 
> In a very real sense, QuickTime already represents a royalty pool. 
> Because of the plug-in architecture, Apple licenses many technologies 
> for use within the QuickTime Architecture - MPEG-4 is just another 
> set of codecs and tools to be included in this pool. I can easily 
> imagine Apple offering an all encompasing QuickTime license that 
> would include a range of third party IP such as MPEG-4, along with 
> some of the Apple IP incorporated iin QuickTime.
> -- 
> Regards
> Craig Birkmaier
> Pcube Labs
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