As I recently reported in Streaming Media magazine, the 49 VVC IP owners assembled by the Media Coding Industry Forum (MC-IF) have chosen two patent pool administrators to form VVC-related pools; Access Advance and MPEG LA. While this is undoubtedly a positive step, it’s merely the first step towards clarifying how much it will cost to license VVC.
As previously reported, the MC-IF pursued patent fostering activities with 49 owners of patents relating to VVC. While the goal was to choose a single patent pool administrator, MC-IF ultimately chose two, Access Advance and MPEG LA. In their announcement, Jud Cary, President of MC-IF, said, “Although it was an MC-IF objective, consensus around a single administrator was elusive. If the result is two pools, this is better than the prospect of an implementer seeking out a licence from each of the 49 holders of VVC-essential patents.
Reacting to the MC-IF decision, MPEG LA announced the “Development of VVC (Versatile Video Coding) Pool License,” a step that Access Advance took last August.
What This Means
You can read my analysis of what this means on the Streaming Media website.