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Overview of AT&T MPEG-4 Patent Licensing Program

AT&T is administering a global, standards-based licensing program based on its portfolio of U.S. and foreign patents with claims essential to the practice of the ISO standards MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10 (ISO/IEC 14496-2 and 11496-10) and the ITU-T standard H.264.  AT&T has committed to licensing this portfolio on a reasonable and non-discriminatory (RAND) basis, has executed numerous license agreements and is in active negotiations with many others. 

AT&T’s program patents are the by-product of the contributions AT&T Labs researchers made to the development of the MPEG-4 standard for video compression in the 1990s.   

License Fees

AT&T’s program licenses hardware and software capable of encoding and decoding content in compliance with the MPEG-4 Part 2 and MPEG-4 Part 10/H.264 standards.  This typically involves mobile handsets, Smartphones, personal media players, game consoles, camcorders, digital still cameras, set-top boxes, broadcast equipment, video teleconferencing equipment and personal computer software.  Prices effective January 1, 2012. 

          MPEG-4 Part 2

          Video Decoder $0.16 per unit
          Video Encoder $0.16 per unit


          MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264)

          MPEG-4 Part 10 Video Decoder 
          $0.15 per unit for units 1-5M per calendar year
          $0.08 per unit for each unit over 5M per calendar year


          MPEG-4 Part 10 Video Encoder 
          $0.15 per unit for units 1-5M per calendar year
          $0.08 per unit for each unit over 5M per calendar year


          MPEG-4 Part 10 Video Codec  
          $0.15 per unit for units 1-5M per calendar year
          $0.08 per unit for each unit over 5M per calendar year
 

          Caps on Future Royalties

          MPEG-4 Part 2:  $2.0M per calendar year

          MPEG-4 Part 10 (H.264):  $3.75M per calendar year 

Enterprise Cap                                      

A Licensee’s payments for activities occurring prior to the Effective Date and for future royalty payments over the Term shall not exceed $50,000,000 

Licensees

The thirteen (13) current licensees include but are not limited to the following:

1. Canon Inc.
2. Casio Computer Co., Ltd.
3. CounterPath Corporation
4. CyberLink Corp.
5. Dish Network L.L.C.
6. Nero AG
7. Pentax Ricoh Imaging Company, Ltd.
8. Sanyo Electric Co. Ltd.
9. Sony Corporation  
10. Sony-Ericsson Mobile Communications 

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For more information on the program or to become a licensee, click the Inquire button below.