(Denver, Colorado, US – 20 September 2004) – MPEG LA, LLC today issued the revised MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License for the MPEG-4 Visual (Part 2) Standard. The revisions were outlined in a press release in April 2004 (see MPEG LA Announces Revisions to License for MPEG-4 (Part 2) Visual); the revised License retains many of the same terms as the old License but is simpler for both manufacturers and video providers to apply.

(Denver, Colorado, USA, 20 July 2004) - MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in one-stop technology platform patent licensing, today issued DRM Reference Model 2.0, specifically covering the Open Mobile Alliance’s OMA DRM 1.0 standard (“OMA DRM 1.0”).

(Denver, Colorado, US – 15 July 2004) – MPEG LA today announced the availability of the AVC Patent Portfolio License. Copies of the License may be obtained at www.mpegla.com, “AVC”, “The License Agreement”.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 20 May 2004) – MPEG LA today issued a correction to its May 18, 2004 press release announcing final terms of license to be included in the AVC Patent Portfolio License MPEG LA Announces Final AVC/H.264 License Terms. The correction is to part 2 of the Attachment to the May 18, 2004 news release referring to Participation Fees (Where End User pays directly for AVC Video) for Subscription AVC Video. In the case of Subscription AVC Video, the 100,000 annual subscriber no-royalty threshold will not be limited to one legal entity in an affiliated group. The corrected Attachment is appended.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 18 May 2004) – MPEG LA, LLC today announced that AVC essential patent holders have agreed on final terms of license to be included in the AVC Patent Portfolio License (“License”) scheduled to issue in June. While many of the terms will be the same as those announced in a November 17 press release (MPEG LA Announces Terms of Joint H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Patent License), there are some changes.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 29 April 2004) – MPEG LA, LLC announced today that patent holders to the MPEG-4 Visual (Part 2) Patent Portfolio License (“License”) have agreed on changes to the License to meet emerging market conditions. The MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License, which issued in November 2002, now has more than 115 Licensees representing a wide spectrum of users (see http://www.mpegla.com for a list of Licensees in good standing). Current Licensees will be given the option to retain their current License or elect the revised License. While retaining many of the same terms as the current License, the revised License, which is expected to issue this summer, will simplify application of the License for both manufacturers and video providers.

(Denver, Colorado, USA, 26 March 2004) MPEG LA, LLC today announced a plan for providing fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory worldwide access to patents that are essential to “Proposed Standard VC-9 Submitted to SMPTE Technology Committee C24” (2004-03-19), a/k/a “Proposed SMPTE Standard for Television: VC-9 Compressed Video Bitstream Format and Decoding Process,” as it may be amended (“VC-9 Specification”). A summary of the MPEG LA plan is attached. The first step calls for those with patents that they believe are essential to the VC-9 Specification to submit them for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts. An initial group of patent holders whose patents are determined to be essential will be convened within 30-45 days to begin considering terms of a joint license, but the process will remain open and submissions will continue to be welcome.

Tokyo March 24--In a joint press conference with MPEG LA today, Japan broadcasters NHK, TBS, NTV, TV Asahi, Fuji TV and TV Tokyo announce their adoption of AVC/H.264 Video Coding for mobile segment digital terrestrial broadcasting. A basic agreement is also announced between the broadcasters and MPEG LA on royalties and other terms of license under essential patents owned by many parties to be offered as part of a joint license.

(Denver, Colorado, USA, 15 March 2004) MPEG LA, LLC convened a first meeting of essential digital rights management (DRM) patent holders in New York City on March 3 to consider terms of a joint patent license. DRM generally refers to technologies for managing and protecting the authorized use of digital content. Parties with patents determined by MPEG LA’s patent experts to be essential to DRM as described in DRM Reference Model v 1.0 were invited to participate in this initial meeting; other parties who submit patents found to be essential also will be invited to join.

(Denver, Colorado, USA - 17 November 2003) MPEG LA today announced that essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC patent and patent application holders have reached agreement on the terms of a joint patent license for implementation and use of ITU-T H.264 and MPEG-4 Part 10 AVC (“AVC Standard”).

(Denver, Colorado, USA, 2 October 2003) MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in one-stop technology platform patent licensing, today issued a call for patents that are essential to digital rights management technology (DRM) as described in DRM Reference Model v 1.0. DRM refers to technologies for managing the authorized use of digital content. The purpose of the DRM Reference Model is to begin a process of evaluating and determining patents that are essential for DRM in order to provide users with convenient, fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to a portfolio of essential worldwide patent rights under a single license. DRM products and services are emerging. By providing the foundation for a patent portfolio license, the DRM Model will offer the marketplace the ability to make available these new and innovative products and services whose development and deployment might otherwise be inhibited. A patent portfolio license will accelerate market development by providing ready access to the essential technology; it also will be of assistance to DRM standards initiatives. A summary of the MPEG LA plan is in Attachment 1.

(Denver, Colorado, USA - 11 September 2003) MPEG LA and essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC patent and patent application holders met again on July 31-August 1 in New York City. Progress continues to be made on the framework of a joint patent license, and the group remains committed to reaching agreement on joint license terms during the fourth quarter 2003. The group will meet by telephone in mid-September and again in Tokyo on September 30-October 1.

(Denver, Colorado, USA - 7 July 2003) MPEG LA convened a meeting of essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC patent and patent application holders in Washington, DC on June 23 and June 24 to begin the process of determining joint licensing terms. Parties with patents or patent applications determined by MPEG LA’s patent experts to be essential to the H.264/AVC standard (“standard”) were invited to participate.

(Denver, Colorado, US - 13 June 2003) - MPEG LA today announced that it will convene the first meeting of essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC patent holders on June 23-24, 2003, to begin the process of determining joint licensing terms and the selection of a licensing administrator in order to make this technology easily accessible to all users. Patents were submitted by 18 parties for a determination of essentiality to the H.264/MPEG-4 AVC standard [ITU-T Recommendation H.264 (H.264), Geneva May 2003, and Final Draft International Standard of ISO/IEC 14496-10 (MPEG-4 Part 10 or AVC), Pattaya March 2003], and independent patent experts have determined that at least 16 own essential patents, with evaluations still under way.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 14 March 2003) – On Thursday March 27, 2003, MPEG LA will hold a public information session for all interested parties on the MPEG-4 Visual and Systems Patent Portfolio Licenses at the Hyatt Regency O’Hare (O’Hare International Airport, Rosemont, IL, http://ohare.hyatt.com/property/index.jhtml).

(Denver, Colorado, US – 5 March 2003) – On Wednesday 19 March 2003, MPEG LA will hold a public information meeting concerning the MPEG-4 Visual and Systems Patent Portfolio Licenses in Amsterdam, The Netherlands at the Crowne Plaza Amsterdam City Centre (www.amsterdam-citycentre.crowneplaza.com)

(Denver, Colorado, US – 5 February 2003) – On Wednesday 12 February 2003, MPEG LA will hold a public information meeting concerning the MPEG-4 Visual and Systems Patent Portfolio Licenses in the Ruby Room of the Shilla Seoul.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 4 February 2003) – MPEG LA today announced the availability of the MPEG-4 Systems Patent Portfolio License.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 30 January 2003) – On Monday 10 February 2003, MPEG LA will hold a public information meeting concerning the MPEG-4 Visual and Systems Patent Portfolio Licenses in the Maple Room of the Hotel Okura Tokyo.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 24 January 2003) – MPEG LA, LLC today announced that it has extended until April 4, 2003, the initial period during which patent holders who believe they own patents that are essential to the proposed JVT/AVC Standard may submit them for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts for the purpose of forming a joint AVC Patent Portfolio License.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 25 November 2002) – MPEG LA today announced the availability of the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License. Copies of the License may be obtained at www.mpegla.com, “MPEG-4 Visual,” “The License Agreement,” by telephone +1-301-986-6660 ext. 208 or email mpeters@mpegla.com. For more information, see “MPEG-4 Visual” at www.mpegla.com.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 29 October 2002) – MPEG LA, LLC today announced that it has extended until January 31, 2003, the initial period during which patent holders who believe they own patents that are essential to the proposed JVT/AVC Standard may submit them for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts for the purpose of forming a joint AVC Patent Portfolio License. MPEG LA first announced an initial call for patent submissions in a news release dated 11 September 2002 [see MPEG LA Extends Call for Initial Submission of Essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Patents ].

(Denver, Colorado, US - 11 September 2002) – MPEG LA, LLC makes the following worldwide announcement of a plan aimed at providing fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory worldwide access under a single license to patents that are essential for implementing the digital video compression standard to be known as ITU-T H.264 and ISO/IEC 14496-10 (“Proposed JVT/AVC Standard”). The first step in the plan calls for those with patents that they believe are essential to the Proposed JVT/AVC Standard (as more specifically described below) to submit them for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 15 July 2002) – MPEG LA and patent holders to the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License, MPEG-4 Systems (without MPEG-J) Patent Portfolio License and MPEG-J Patent Portfolio License reached agreement on final licensing terms following their meetings in San Francisco on June 25 – 26, 2002. In the interest of one-stop convenience, users will be offered the opportunity to sign up for a license under patents that are essential for any or all of these standards. The official licenses are scheduled to issue in September.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 24 April 2002) – MPEG LA and patent holders to the proposed MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License met on April 18 and 19 in New York City. They continue to discuss licensing terms and consider the constructive views, interests and concerns of prospective licensees.

(Denver, Colorado, US – 28 March 2002) – MPEG LA, LLC today issued the following statement regarding the status of the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License: On January 31, 2002, MPEG LA announced that it will offer fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to patents (owned by 18 companies) that are essential to the MPEG-4 Visual (Simple and Core) digital compression standard under a single license to be known as the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License and provided an initial overview of the proposed license terms. The actual license agreement is still in development, however, and all terms are subject to change.

(Denver, Colorado, US - 31 January 2002) - MPEG LA, LLC today announced that it will offer fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory, worldwide access to patents that are essential to the MPEG-4 Visual (Simple and Core) digital compression standard under a single license to be known as the MPEG-4 (Visual) Patent Portfolio License ("License").

(Denver, Colorado, US-14 November 2001) - The MPEG-4 Industry Forum (M4IF) has recommended that MPEG LA, LLC make the following worldwide announcement:

In furtherance of its plan aimed at providing fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory worldwide access under one license to patents that are essential for implementing the international MPEG-4 Visual Standard, the MPEG-4 Industry Forum (M4IF) has recommended that MPEG LA, LLC, in its role as Evaluation Administrator, call for the submission of patents for evaluation of their essentiality to additional MPEG-4 Visual Standard profiles, specifically Simple Scalable, Advanced Simple, and Fine Granularity Scalable.

(Denver, Colorado, US - 3 July 2001) - MPEG LA, LLC, which operates as facilitator for an initial group of 19 essential patent holders calling itself the M4VisualPHG, reports that substantial progress was made toward the creation of a joint MPEG-4 Visual (Simple and Core profiles) patent license at the group's meeting in San Jose, California on June 19 and 20.

(Denver, CO US-July 3, 2001) MPEG LA today announced the commencement of a new licensing program, DVB LA^SM, for the joint licensing of patents essential to the terrestrial digital television standard known as DVB-T.

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This article by Business Wire's Business Editors, Technology Writers may be found here .

The entire article, "Group formed to oversee 1394 patent licensing" by Junko Yoshida may be found here .

According to Bill Brooks, spokesman for the Justice Department, "It's the first statement we have made on patent pooling. . . definitely a first in recent history, and likely a first on patent pooling."

Ken Rubenstein, lead attorney for MPEG LA^®, said the company would not take legal action against manufacturers who "choose not to take a license" but acknowledge that individual patent holders might. "We're not going to sue anybody for patent infringements if they don't pay," he said. "Companies will have to decide if they want to go unlicensed and take the risk inherent in that. MPEG LA^® as an individual entity won't be that heavy." MPEG LA represents Columbia University and nine companies laying claim to 29 essential patents covering MPEG-2 video. Rubenstein said those companies hold about 80 percent of the essential MPEG-2 patents but acknowledge that other patents might be added to the pool at a later date. He said Lucent Technologies Inc. (LU) is considering joining the patent pool. MPEG LA^® hopes to get Toshiba and Samsung on board as well, bringing the total number of patents in the pool to 33.

The patents will be licensed in a single package, administered by the US-based agency MPEG LA^®. Besides Columbia, patent pool participants include Fujitsu, General Instrument, Lucent Technologies, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips, Scientific-Atlanta, Sony. A DOJ spokesman said using an independent expert "will help ensure that the portfolio will contain only patents that are truly essential to the MPEG-2 standard, weeding out patents that are competitive alternatives to each other."