[MPEGIF Discuss] royalties for distibuting a player

[Larry Horn]

Hi, Tim.
I have seen the discussion thread. If you have questions about the
MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio or MPEG-4 Systems Patent Portfolio
License, please get in touch directly with Dean Skandalis who is copied
on this email or provide Dean with a way to reach you. 
As you apparently are aware, the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License
offered by MPEG LA includes annual minimum thresholds of 50,000 units
(per legal entity but no more than one in an affiliated group) for the
manufacture and sale of MPEG-4 Visual decoders before royalties are
payable.  Therefore, to the extent you distribute 50,000 or fewer MPEG-4
video decoders in a year, no royalty would be payable for the
manufacture and sale of such decoders under the MPEG-4 Visual Patent
Portfolio License.  After the first 50,000 units each year, the royalty
is $0.25 per unit for the manufacture and sale of MPEG-4 Visual Decoders
(up to an annual maximum cap of $1M per legal entity).
Under the MPEG-4 Systems Patent Portfolio License, as you also seem to
be aware, royalties are payable beginning with the first product which
uses MPEG-4 Systems; there are no thresholds.  Therefore, if your player
can decode MP4 File Format data files as you note, it would be subject
to a royalty of $0.15 per unit under the MPEG-4 Systems Patent Portfolio
License (up to an annual maximum cap of $100,000 per legal entity).
In the case of both the MPEG-4 Visual License and the MPEG-4 Systems
License, no distinction is made for products that are offered without
charge - they are treated the same as any other products which use the
technology.
Meanwhile, for questions about licensing AAC, I suggest you contact Via
Licensing for more information.   
I hope this is helpful, but Dean Skandalis will be glad to address
additional questions you may have.
Best regards,
Larry Horn
Vice President, Licensing
-----Original Message-----
From: discuss-bounces lists.mpegif.org
[mailto:discuss-bounces lists.mpegif.org] On Behalf Of Tim Olsen
Sent: Monday, November 08, 2023 11:40 PM
To: Holger Grahn - Bitmanagement
Cc: discuss lists.mpegif.org
Subject: Re: [MPEGIF Discuss] royalties for distibuting a player
Both of which have a 50,000 unit floor.  I guess what I'm really
asking is, am I using any MPEG-4 Systems technology if I restrict the
player to using Xvid and AAC inside the AVI container?
It appears to me that the MPEG-4 Systems license is the only one of
the three ( Visual and Audio being the other two) that does not have 
50,000 unit floor.  That's why I'm trying to avoid using that
technology.
thanks,
Tim
On Tue, 9 Nov 2023 01:25:51 +0100, Holger Grahn - Bitmanagement
<holger.grahn bitmanagement.de> wrote:
>
> 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.
> 
> 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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