DEC 13,1999 11:20 PACIFIC 14:20 EASTERN
MPEG LA® Hails 200th Licensee; Digital Video Set-Top Box
and Consumer Electronics Products Covered Worldwide
Business Editors, Technology Writers
DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 13, 1999--MPEG
LA® today announced that its MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio
License now includes 200 Licensees. MPEG LA® was established to assure
the interoperability and implementation of the
core MPEG-2 international digital video technology standard by providing
MPEG-2 users with fair, reasonable,
nondiscriminatory access to worldwide essential patent rights under
a single license. Licensees to MPEG LA's MPEG-2
Patent Portfolio License account for most of the digital set-top box
(used in receiving direct satellite and cable services),
professional (e.g., encoders, file servers and multiplexers) and consumer
electronics (including DVD player and television
receiver/decoder) products in the current world market.
"Not only does this milestone give testimony to
the acceptance of MPEG LA's licensing model," said Baryn Futa, CEO
of MPEG LA®, "it also proves why that model is responsible for the worldwide
utility of MPEG-2 technology. MPEG
LA's License makes MPEG-2 accessible to all companies, large and small.
It significantly reduces the expense,
uncertainty and time that would be required to negotiate licenses with
so many patent holders, freeing companies to focus
on what they do best - creating MPEG-2 products."
Since licensing began in July 1997, MPEG LA's MPEG-2
Patent Portfolio License has grown to include more than
230 patents (61 patent families plus their worldwide counterparts)
owned by Columbia University, France Telecom
(CNET), Fujitsu, General Instrument Corp., KDD Corporation (KDD), Matsushita,
Mitsubishi, Nippon Telegraph and
Telephone Corporation (NTT), Philips, Samsung, Scientific Atlanta,
Sony, Toshiba, and Victor Company of Japan,
Limited (JVC).
"As a result of MPEG LA's pioneering efforts, the
role of MPEG LA's fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory one-stop
technology standard licensing model is now recognized as technology's
passageway to the marketplace," Futa said. "It
assures the marketplace creation of innovative new products and services
made possible by widespread implementation,
interoperability and use of any fundamental broad-based technology
covered by many patents owned by many different
patent holders."
MPEG LA® recently announced (Business Wire, 15 November
and 8 December 1999) formation of a second one-stop
technology standards licensing program, 1394 LASM, to provide worldwide
nondiscriminatory access to patents that are
essential for implementing the international standards relating to
the high speed transfer digital interface known as IEEE
1394. Patent holders to the 1394 Patent Portfolio License include Apple
Computer, Inc., Canon Inc., Compaq Computer
Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic),
Royal Philips Electronics, STMicroelectronics, Sony
Corporation, and Toshiba Corporation.
For more information, see http://www.mpegla.com
and http://www.1394la.com
BACKGROUND ON MPEG-2
MPEG-2 refers to the fundamental technology underlying
the efficient transmission, storage and display of digitized
moving images and sound tracks on which high definition television
(HDTV), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB), direct
broadcast by satellite (DBS), digital cable television systems, multichannel-multipoint
distribution services (MMDS),
personal computer video, digital versatile discs (DVD), interactive
media and other forms of digital video delivery,
storage, transport and display are based. MPEG-2 compresses digital
information by reducing spatial and temporal
redundancies in binary data streams, thereby conserving transmission
resources and storage space. The International
Organization for Standards (ISO) and the International Telecommunications
Union (IEC) approved it as an international
standard in 1995.
CONTACT: MPEG LA®
Larry Horn, 301.986.6660
Fax: 301.986.8575
lhorn@mpegla.com