Last update: 2012/01/12

The Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG)

Patents in MPEG standards

1 Background

The ISO/IEC patent policy is set out in the ISO/IEC Directives (latest edition is version 5 dated 2004) and in Clause 2.14 of Part 1 and Annex F of Part 2. The Directives can be accessed at ITTF’s web site http://isotc.iso.org/livelink/livelink/fetch/2000/2489/Ittf_Home/ITTF.htm

2 Call for Proposals

When MPEG issue a Call for Proposals they advise submitters that they will need to comply with the ISO/IEC Intellectual Property Rights Policy

3 Patent Statement and Licensing Declarations

As standards are developed, organisations with patented technology which is included in the specification are invited to provide Patent Statement and Licensing Declarations to the ISO and IEC Central Office. The form for making such a declaration is available from ITTF.

4 JTC1 Patent Database

ITTF maintain a database in which they provide entries for all Patent statement and Licensing Declarations received by ISO and IEC Central Offices. This database can be accessed at http://www.iso.org/patents

5 Licensing Technology included in MPEG Standards

5.1 Negotiating Individual Licenses

Organisations wishing to license technology included in MPEG specifications can find contact information relating to organisations which have made a Patent Statement and Licensing Declaration

either in the introduction or an annex to the specification
or in the JTC1 patent database

and can contact these organisations directly to negotiate a license to use their patented technology.

5.2 Negotiating Licenses from Patent Pools

Various MPEG standards have benefited from the existence of patent pools where organisations wishing to license technology included in such standards can negotiate a single license covering all the essential patents identified by those organizations which administer the patent pools.

5.3 National Standards Bodies

Organisations may also obtain helpful advice by consulting their National Standards Bodies