Want to stay current on e–commerce law? Sign up for Email Newsletter.
Possible Patent Infringement Leaves Google WebM in Legal Limbo
In February 2010, Google acquired On2 Technologies for $124.6 million. This deal gave Google the rights to VP8, the codec that is at the heart of Google’s WebM open-source and royalty-free, high-quality video-encoding format. However, MPEG LA, a video patent licensing group, is raising doubts about whether the VP8 codec is really a royalty-free solution to streaming video. One of MPEG LA’s patent pools covers the H.264 codec, which is a competitor to the VP8 codec.
MPEG LA’s Chief Executive Larry Horn released a statement that suggests MPEG LA is considering offering a V8 patent pool: “To the extent VP8 includes technology owned by others (or Google as well), and that technology is not royalty-free, then a pool license, which removes uncertainties regarding patent rights and royalties by making that technology widely available on the same terms to everyone, would be beneficial to the market, including those who wish to promote it.”
Despite MPEG LA’s actions, Google has secured Mozilla, Opera, Adobe, and over 40 other publisher, software, and hardware developers to support the WebM project. Google released the following statement regarding its V8 codec: “While it is impossible to guarantee that any product will be free from claims of patent infringement, we can state that we are comfortable shipping V8 in our own products.”
Mozilla Chief Executive John Lilly said, “Right now we think that it’s totally fine to ship, or we wouldn’t ship it.” Companies that are supporting WebM declined to share any details on whether Google offered any assurance or indemnification. Although MPEG LA’s position has not stopped Google and its allies from moving forward, its position should not be seen as an idle threat since MPEG LA has asserted its license pool against Microsoft, Lenovo, and Target in the past.
For additional information, visit :
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20006245-264.html