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MPEG-LA Announces MPEG-DASH Patent Portfolio License

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MPEG-LA today released a patent portfolio license for MPEG-DASH, and while the announcement doesn't come as a complete surprise—MPEG-LA announced the formation of the patent pool in July 2015—the royalty fees could slow down adoption of the technology. Especially notable is the fact that licensing terms appear retroactive to January 1, 2015.

According to a summary of licensing terms available from MPEG-LA, the terms are as follows: 

DASH Clients (products capable of parsing a Media Presentation Description and accessing or playing DASH Segments)

- 0-100,000 units/year = no royalty (available to one Legal Entity in an affiliated group)

- US $0.05 per unit after first 100,000 units each year

• DASH Segments based on DASH Initiators (products capable of initiating transfer of Media Presentation Descriptions associated with DASH Segments)

- 0-100,000 units/year = no royalty (available to one Legal Entity in an affiliated group)

- US $0.05 per unit after first 100,000 DASH Initiator units each year

• Related Terms

-  Maximum annual royalty payable by an Enterprise (Legal Entity and Affiliates) is $30 million during the first License Term

-  Royalties payable for products from January 1, 2015 forward

-  Includes right to make, use and sell 

According to MPEG-LA, DASH patent holders as of today include Amotech Co, AVerMedia Technologies, CableTelevision Laboratories, Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Foerderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., Hitachi Maxell, Ltd., Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Siemens AG, SK Planet Co. and The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York.

That's all we know for now. Streaming Media's Jan Ozer is contacting representatives from MPEG-LA as well as prominent content publishers who are using DASH, and we'll have more insight as soon as it's available.

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