Philips Confirms It's Joining HEVC Advance as 'Better and More Attractive Pool' Than MPEG LA's

Philips “does not have an exclusive relationship with MPEG LA, and Philips makes the decisions to join pools on a case by case basis,” Joop Talstra, of the Philips Intellectual Property & Standards Department in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, emailed us Friday. “In this case we found HEVC Advance a better and more attractive pool than the one of MPEG LA."

Talstra declined to detail what factors made Philips view HEVC Advance as the better patent-pool option for licensing its HEVC intellectual property. But the defection to HEVC Advance marks a major repudiation of MPEG LA for Philips, which has been an active participant over the years in the vast majority of the dozen patent pools that MPEG LA runs, including for technologies like MPEG-2, H.264 and ATSC, MPEG LA's website shows.

The MPEG LA-run patent pool for HEVC is the notable exception. It was formed in September (see 1409300062), but without the participation of Philips and other HEVC Advance founding members Dolby Labs, GE, Mitsubishi and Technicolor. At present, MPEG LA’s HEVC patent pool has 27 licensor entities, featuring a mixed roster of telecom companies and university think tanks, but also such heavy-hitters as Apple and Samsung, its HEVC licensor list shows.

MPEG LA responded last week to HEVC Advance’s formation with a statement in which it said that “to the extent other patents may be necessary or useful” on HEVC, “parties are free to evaluate for themselves their need for a license." Asked to comment on the Philips decision to join HEVC Advance as “a better and more attractive option,” an MPEG LA spokesman emailed us Saturday to say: “Our earlier statement speaks for itself. We don't comment on or compare other licenses.” What MPEG LA "knows and is pleased to comment on is the HEVC license we offer,” the spokesman said. “With essential HEVC patents owned by 27 patent holders and more on the way, users will benefit from coverage under our license regardless. It has been embraced by patent holders that include companies who are introducing this innovative technology to the market in their own products. They agree to be licensees on the same terms asked of other licensees, and are paying royalties that along with other licensees account for most HEVC products in the current world market.”

As far as MPEG LA knows, “HEVC Advance presently offers no license; it has only announced an intention to offer a license and even then, would provide coverage under different patents,” the MPEG LA spokesman said. HEVC Advance hasn't been specific about its license programs or terms, but has said licensing would begin in the third quarter this year.

“To the extent coverage under other patents may be necessary or useful, users will have to evaluate for themselves their need for licenses and the terms under which they are offered,” the MPEG LA spokesman said. “In keeping with MPEG LA's longstanding objective to include as much essential intellectual property as possible for the benefit of users in a single license, however, MPEG LA shall continue to welcome any company including these who believe they may own essential patents to join our HEVC pool now or in the future on the same terms as others,” he said of HEVC Advance’s founding members.