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Google's WebM to Face Patent Challenge?

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MPEG LA, the organization holding the MPEG-2 and H.264专利池,已经发布了关于谷歌的WebM VP8编解码器的专利请求.

MPEG LA宣布了一项“用于传输视频图像的VP8视频编解码器规范必不可少的专利”的呼吁,该规范构成了WebM开源视频规范的视频部分 webmproject.org.

"In order to participate in the creation of, and determine licensing terms for, a joint VP8 patent license," MPEG LA noted in a press release, “任何认为自己拥有对VP8视频编解码器规范至关重要的专利的一方,都被邀请提交专利,由MPEG LA的专利评估人员确定其重要性.

MPEG LA将最初的提交日期定为2011年3月18日. The short deadline, about one month from now, 只涉及已发布的专利,并且至少有一项“基本专利”是参与所必需的.

必要专利是指专利权人认为对说明书至关重要的专利, as listed at webmproject.org.

Back in June 2010, we addressed the issue of Google's BSD-like license, 协议中,使用开源版本VP8的开发者同意赔偿谷歌免受任何侵权索赔.  从那时起,该公司修改了其许可证,使其更接近BSD格式, 但新版本仍保留了赔偿谷歌的要求.

At the same time, MPEG LA signaled an interest in a patent pool for VP8, 但在近9个月的时间里,他都没有在专利池组建方面取得进展.

2010年6月,John Paczkowski在《百家乐软件app最新版下载》上发表了一篇题为“谷歌的“免版税”WebM视频可能不会长期免版税,MPEG LA首席执行官拉里·霍恩表示,“谷歌授权的不确定性”可能会让开发者感到担忧.

“鉴于市场对这些技术的专利许可需求存在不确定性," said Horn, CEO of MPEG LA, “市场已经表达了兴趣,敦促我们促进许可证的形成,以满足市场对方便的一站式市场的需求,而不是与各个专利持有人就获取VP8和其他编解码器的基本专利权进行单独的许可谈判, and we are looking into the prospects of doing so."

关于MPEG LA新专利池组织的最新消息恰逢谷歌宣布放弃H.264 native support from its Chrome browser. It also follows Microsoft's recent emphasis on supporting H.264在Chrome中通过一个插件,一个主题涵盖了另一篇最近的流媒体文章.

Back in June, 我们提到,谷歌未能解决专利赔偿问题——或者至少没有发布有关专利有效性的调查结果的信息——可能会落入专利池的手中.

In 2011, however, 该公司仍然坚持开源VP8是它所需要做的一切, 称MPEG LA的专利池成立公告为旧闻.

“自从WebM推出以来,MPEG LA就暗示了VP8池,这并不是什么新鲜事," Google wrote in an emailed statement to The Register late last week. “绝大多数行业都支持自由开放的开发, 我们正在组建一个由硬件和软件公司组成的广泛联盟,承诺不对WebM提出任何知识产权索赔. 我们坚定地致力于这个项目,并为HTML5视频建立一个开放的编解码器."

By HTML5 video, Google means the HTML video tag, 因为HTML5这个词对它自己的员工来说不再有效, Ian Hickson, 谁最近在他的博客文章中说“HTML是新的HTML5”. Hickson是新HTML规范的编辑,该规范包含HTML视频标签,旨在消除许多浏览器对视频播放插件的依赖.

MPEG LA, whether disingenuously or seriously, told The Register that it hopes to lessen the litigation likelihood of VP8.

“专利所有人是决定是否执行专利的人,”该组织表示. “MPEG LA促进了池许可证的创建,从而降低了这种可能性. If beneficial, 这种许可的可用性将使用户有机会获得基本专利的许可,从而有助于避免侵权行为."

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