[opendtv] Re: News: M'soft coup starts media codec fight
- From: Craig Birkmaier <craig@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: opendtv@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2004 08:53:23 -0400
At 12:00 PM -0700 10/21/04, John Willkie wrote:
>Also, you ACT as if you know something of the licensing terms. Since you
>phrase it that way, you know little or nothing.
Apparently I know a great deal more than yourself.
>The real sticking point with the licensing terms between AVC and VC-1 is
>indemnification. There is no indemnification required or addressed, since
>you have all the license you need with AVC's licensing terms. With VC-1,
>Microsoft grants you no such assurance; you grant them a license to your
>improvements to their codecs, and you share liability.
>
>INDEMNIFICATION is the KEY issue these days. Getting no indemnification
>from MS and -- if sued for IP -- having to share the defendant's table with
>them is a no-brainer: only idiots will take those terms. MS has endless
>money and can defend all the way to them losing. If you drop out when you
>run out of money, you have to settle with the plaintiffs.
This completely misses the point. It MAY be a valid consideration,
but ONLY if some of the companies with key IP to both AVC and VC-1
refuse to participate in the patent pool. The FACT that the same
folks who put together the AVC license terms are now putting together
the VC-1 terms should tell you something. It is HIGHLY unlikely that
they will grant better terms for VC-1 than for AVC. If Microsoft and
MPEG-LA cannot put together a license with all of the key
intellectual property holders, then indemnification is indeed an
important issue. But neither of us can have knowledge of something
that has not yet been determined or announced.
>
>This is not new information on this list: I've said it at least once
>before, on this very topic. Rob K. has even alluded to it. I've even
>discussed it with people at last year's Tech Retreat.
>
>I won't go into my work-around on this (AVC and VC-1 format descriptors are
>included in my metadata/PSIP generator) but to complain about pennies per
>unit in the light of millions of dollars of exposure (ever try to hire an IP
>attorney? how about an IP attorney who appears in court) is FOLLY, abstruse
>and "unhelpful."
Once again you are demonstrating your lack of understanding of the
issues. The license terms for AVC encoders and decoders are pretty
cheap, at least as they impact consumers. Microsoft may well continue
to give away VC-1 and pay the decoder royalties to the other IP
holders, as Apple is likely to do when they add support for AVC to
QuickTime.
The real issue is not the encoder and decoder fees, but the USE fees.
It is the pennies that keep being paid for use of the technology, not
the one time fees for encoders and decoders that have major potential
users of the technology upset. It is difficult to imagine any
scenario in which VC-1 would not be suject to the same use fees.
Regards
Craig
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