[M4IF Discuss] Market based Royalty

[Sanjay Kulkarni]

Dave's comments further strengthen my idea that a market based royalty scheme
would be just right for MPEG4. As he rightly says, the lawyers and engineers
working on MPEG4 have completely different uses and markets in mind. The current
licensing structure would kill any other applications of MPEG4 in as yet unknown
markets.
Maybe a market based monitization scheme with upper caps on each market segment
would suit everyone?
Also,  if I am to make a pure MPEG4 based DVD, I'd pay (say) 4 cents/disc. If I
were to make a hybrid disc (MPEG2+MPEG4, which I think will be a more practical
case) MPEG LA can work out a scheme where the total license for MPEG2 and MPEG4
content can be 4 cents/disc. IMHO this should suit the licensees and licensors
of dedicated channel providers - DVD / DVB.
For markets like Internet Streaming, where MPEG4 would be trying to get a
foothold, IMHO no one's going to choose a use-based-fee royalty structure,
especially when their are other options available that are "free" and have an
installed base of users. In this case the encoder/decoder licensing model can be
applied with a cap of, say, 1 million or so.
I think MPEG4 licensing is the most complex of technology licensing issues ever
to be discussed, and rightly so, because of its vast application areas. MPEG LA
needs to keep the target markets and the monitization model in each market, in
mind while deciding a scheme while leaving an open door to hitherto unknown
application areas of MPEG4.
Regards,
Sanjay / Pansonic
Dave Singer wrote:
> >Again, I don't like usage-fees for new markets - but if I was the maker of
> >an MPEG-2 DVD and paying 4cents/DVD for a license - I can see wanting to
> >switch to new-fangled MPEG-4 DVD-players when they come out (because of
> >broadband-connected DVD players or putting HDTV on IR-Laser DVDs instead of
> >going to blue-light lasers)- and I can see MPEG-LA not wanting that kind of
> >switch to go on "for free" - but maybe they would need "legacy" MPEG-2
> >content anyway so there's no problem....
> >
>
> This is very much a personal opinion:
>
> The use fees seem to be only suited for applications which are
> "dedicated channel".  An entire DVD is devoted to MPEG-2;  an entire
> DVB broadcast is likewise.  In these cases, monitoring to calculate
> the usage fee is un-needed, and the model is workable.
>
> The problem is that MPEG-4 is not intended for dedicated channel use.
> It is as if the lawyers and the engineers have completely different
> uses and markets in mind.  MPEG-4 is intended for mixed-channel
> (internet, IP, network) use, where it is completely unreasonable to
> charge for the entire channel (e.g. "per disk copied", "per minute
> spent dialed in") and unworkable to compute the fractional channel
> usage of by the MPEG-4 video codec.
> --
> David Singer
> Apple Computer/QuickTime
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