Sunday, February 12, 2006
AT&T Drops the MPEG Compression Patent Hammer
Posted by Jason Dunn in "NEWS" @ 02:00 AM
"AT&T has begun to name names in its hunt to license its MPEG video compression patents. AT&T possesses several patents related to video compression, which the company says are an essential component of the MPEG-4 video technology. In a bid to drive its global licensing program, AT&T has targeted Apple Computer, Inc., CyberLink Corp., DivX, Inc., InterVideo, Inc., and Sonic Solutions as unlicensed companies whose products and software utilize the MPEG-4 technology. AT&T has also contacted national retailers that distribute products from the companies listed above, to let them know that they may be held liable for infringement."
Given the complexity of this issue, it could open a whole mess o' ugly worms for a huge variety of companies. MPEG4 playback is standard on a massive array of digital media devices, and if AT&T is going to try and go after every single one - and the retailers that sell them - this could go on for years. What baffles me is why they've waited this long. One possible explanation is that they were waiting for MPEG4 to reach critical mass, be widely adopted, then they drop the hammer. That's pure genius, but also pure evil.
People often decry the closed nature of Windows Media the fact that licensing has to come from Microsoft, but if you look at a situation like this where a more open standard is a confusing mess of patents and intellectual property, licensing a proprietary technology from a single vendor seems like a much wiser move.
Given the complexity of this issue, it could open a whole mess o' ugly worms for a huge variety of companies. MPEG4 playback is standard on a massive array of digital media devices, and if AT&T is going to try and go after every single one - and the retailers that sell them - this could go on for years. What baffles me is why they've waited this long. One possible explanation is that they were waiting for MPEG4 to reach critical mass, be widely adopted, then they drop the hammer. That's pure genius, but also pure evil.
People often decry the closed nature of Windows Media the fact that licensing has to come from Microsoft, but if you look at a situation like this where a more open standard is a confusing mess of patents and intellectual property, licensing a proprietary technology from a single vendor seems like a much wiser move.
