[MPEGIF Discuss] royalties for distibuting a player

[Bernhard Grill]

Holger Grahn - Bitmanagement wrote:
> 
> Hi Tim
> 
> Here is a table from Microsoft comparing royalties  of Windows Media 
> versus MPEG-2 & MPEG-4
> http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/licensing/licensing.aspx
> 
> Even if you use the AVI container, your would  still need MPEG-4 video 
> decoding and Dolby/MPEG licence cost for AAC depending on channel count.
> 

Holger,
the website you mention compares ASF and MPEG-4 Systems licensing terms which 
are probably two very different sets of technologies. MPEG-4 Systems includes 
many components like BIFS or the ISO file format. You can find the list of 
MPEG-4 Systems patents covered by the MPEGLA MPEG-4 Systems licensing program at 
http://www.mpegla.com/m4s/m4s-patentlist.cfm. Unfortunately, MPEGLA offers no 
separate licensing programs for the various MPEG-4 Systems components. Potential 
users have to figure out on their own which patents read on which part of MPEG-4 
Systems and whether certain parts are covered by these patents or not.
Regarding AAC: the only AAC licensing program I'm aware of is offered by VIA 
Licensing (www.vialicensing.com).
Regards,
Bernhard Grill
> Greetings
> Holger
> 
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Tim Olsen" <tolsen718 gmail.com>
> To: <Discuss lists.mpegif.org>
> Sent: Monday, November 08, 2023 8:37 PM
> Subject: [MPEGIF Discuss] royalties for distibuting a player
> 
> 
>> Hello.
>>
>> Am I correct in thinking that if I were to distribute a free MPEG-4
>> player with less than 50,000 downloads per year and the file format it
>> read was AVI, I would not have to pay any royalties?  To make it more
>> concrete, lets say I was using the Xvid and AAC codecs.
>>
>> Would I be subject to an MPEG Systems royalty if I were to use the MP4
>> file format?
>>
>> does the 50,000 downloads still matter if the player I'm distributing 
>> is free?
>>
>> thanks for your help.
>>
>> -Tim
> 
> 
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-- 
Dr. Bernhard Grill                                  email: grl iis.fhg.de
Head of Audio Department, Fraunhofer IIS            phone: +49 9131 776-351
Am Wolfsmantel 33, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany        FAX:   +49 9131 776-398