MPEG Industry Forum

16 July 2023 - The MPEG-4 Industry Forum (M4IF) welcomed yesterday's announcement by MPEG LA on behalf over 20 patent holders, noting that the viability of the license needs to be proven in the market.

The usage fee concerns have been substantially addressed. Other positive aspects are the inclusion of terms for MPEG-4 Systems and the fact that newer MPEG-4 Profiles, e.g. Advanced Simple, are covered by the license at no extra cost, offering the industry a one stop shop for licensing MPEG-4.

"I am delighted that terms are finally known", said Rob Koenen, President of M4IF. "This rings the starting bell for the whole broadcast and multimedia industry to start releasing MPEG-4 products and services. The licenses are the long-expected prerequisite for MPEG-4 being fully accepted and deployed."

"It's good that we now have version 1.0 of the licensing product - it can be sold. It does not yet cover all requirements, but I am confident that MPEG LA and the licensors will work with potential licensees, as they have done to date, to come up with a version 2.0 that covers more service- and usage models", said Koenen.

Although there is no single, comprehensive, open alternative for all markets, there are alternatives in each of them. The MPEG-4 industry needs a license that allows it to offer competitive products and services in all of MPEG-4's target markets, consistent with the opportunity presented by MPEG-4 as a horizontal, cross-platform standard.

M4IF hosts a discussion on issues relating to the adoption of MPEG-4, including MPEG-4 licensing, at [email protected]. Anyone can subscribe to this open mailing list at http://www.m4if.org/public/publiclistreg.html

About MPEG-4
MPEG-4 is the interactive coding standard for all digital multimedia platforms. Developed by the "Moving Picture Experts Group" that designed MPEG-2 (the digital television standard), MPEG-1 and MP3. Being object-based and extending beyond video and audio, MPEG-4 supports rich, interactive, standards-based multimedia from low bandwidths to transparent quality.

About M4IF
M4IF represents more than 100 companies from diverse industries evenly distributed across North America, Europe and Asia, addressing MPEG-4 adoption issues that go beyond the charter of ISO/IEC MPEG. Activities of the forum include an interoperability program, certification, several working groups, access to ISO/MPEG committee members, and an annual conference (WEMP-4). For more information visit: http://www.m4if.org

More information
Martin Jacklin, M4IF Media Relations, (Switzerland), +41 (79) 291 1882 (m)
[email protected]

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