NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release
CONTACT:
Lawrence Horn
MPEG LA, LLC
301.986.6660
301.986.8575 Fax
lhorn@mpegla.com

Joint Patent License for DRM Technology Makes Progress

MPEG LA Holds First Patent Holders Meeting

(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.

The essential patent holders are keenly aware of the intense marketplace interest in a joint patent license for DRM technology, and good progress was made at their first meeting toward the achievement of that goal. The meeting included discussion of issues, an overall framework for a license and the assistance that this joint patent license development effort may lend as an umbrella for other DRM-related efforts. In the coming weeks, the group will examine different models for addressing the issues, and hold additional meetings.
Announced by MPEG LA on October 2, 2003 [http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_03-10-02_drm.html], the purpose of the DRM Reference Model is to form the basis for 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. By providing the foundation for a patent portfolio license, the DRM Model will offer the marketplace the ability to make available new and innovative products and services whose development and deployment might otherwise be inhibited.

MPEG LA continues to welcome the submission of patents for an evaluation of their essentiality in order to include as much essential intellectual property as possible in one license for the benefit of the marketplace. Any party that believes it has patents that are essential with respect to DRM Reference Model v 1.0 and wishes to join this process upon successful evaluation is invited to submit such patents for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts. Those who are interested may request a copy of DRM Reference Model v 1.0 and the terms and procedures governing patent submissions at www.mpegla.com.

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MPEG LA, LLC

MPEG LA successfully pioneered one-stop technology platform licensing with a portfolio of essential patents for the international digital video compression standard known as MPEG-2. One-stop technology platform licensing enables widespread technological implementation, interoperability and use of fundamental broad-based technologies covered by many patents owned by many patent holders. MPEG LA provides users with fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory, worldwide access to essential patents from multiple patent holders in a single license as a nonexclusive alternative to negotiating licenses with each of them individually. MPEG LA is not related to any standards agency and is not an affiliate of any patent holder. In addition to MPEG-2, MPEG LA licenses portfolios of essential patents for the IEEE 1394 Standard, the DVB-T Standard, the MPEG-4 Visual Standard and the MPEG-4 Systems Standard. MPEG LA also is facilitating a license for the AVC/H.264 Standard also known as MPEG-4 Part 10. For more information, please refer to http://www.mpegla.com, http://www.1394la.com and http://www.dvbla.com.