[M4IF Discuss] Use Fees (Was FW: MPEG-4 Audio Licensing begins)

[Ben Waggoner]

Holger,
    As far as I understand this...
    A good analogy for MPEG4IP is the LAME MP3 encoder.  It isn't
distributed as compiled binaries, but as source code.  So it's not really a
"product," but a research project, akin to the MPEG reference software.
Vendors can make products using MPEG4IP, and then have to pay a license.
    This seems like a good thing for everyone.  Lots of engineers get
exposure to MPEG-4 technologies, we have a more production ready reference
implementation for many things.  And to the extent users are so price
sensitive they would use MPEG4IP instead of buying a real encoding
product...  Well, that's not going to be a large audience.  Making an
actual, final .mp4 file with MPEG4IP is on par in complexity for an end user
as, say, recompiling and installing a new Linux kernel.  MPEG4IP doesn't
meaningfully compete with the commercial products that pay license fees.
Ben Waggoner <http://www.benwaggoner.com>
Compressed Video Consulting, Training, and Encoding
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on 6/16/03 16:46, Holger Grahn - Bitmanagement at
holger.grahn   bitmanagement.de wrote:
> But could you clarify an existing market example:
> 
> Taking an actual existing OpenSource project like mpeg4ip:
> They are making 'MPEG-4 Systems data decoders and MPEG-4 Systems data
> encoders'
> freely available on the Internet.
> The are not selling it, it is not clear who is the 'product manufacturers',
> they are not tracking how many
> 'encoder subjects' are compiled or used from the source code.
> 
> How would MPEG-LA charge them or took action?
> 
> If the term 'product manufacturers' refers only to manufacturers offering
> physical manifestations
> of MPEG-4 capable devices like an MPEG-4 AAC Portable Music Player, an
> MPEG-4 Personal
> Video Player / DVD player or an Set-Top box this would be an different and
> more practical approach.
> 
> I assume that manufacturers of such devices are bigger entities and have no
> problems paying the $100,000  annual cap to get rid of the book keeping
> issues.
> 
> My question is related to reducing the risk for Open Source projects or
> early adopter software  and content companies investing into MPEG-4
> developments and content.
> 
> To my memory MP3 took off, when the intial very strict licence conditions
> where relaxed and shareware/software based MP3 players where no longer
> subject of royalties.