Technicolor quits HEVC Advance patent pool to license own standard


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Editor

| 04 February 2016




One of the biggest gating factors of HD development was the time it took to develop standards, and the same issue may be hitting the Ultra HD market, with Technicolor withdrawing from the HEVC Advance patent pool.



There is common consensus among all key players in the Ultra HD world that HEVC is currently the best video compression technology to meet industry needs, such as the shift towards next-generation video formats.

HEVC Advance was set up to offer an efficient and transparent means for accessing and licensing HEVC essential patents, thereby bringing HEVC to the global market faster.

From its inception, HEVC Advance planned to license patents related to the compression standard to content owners and manufacturers of connected devices like set-top boxes, laptops and mobile devices. However it recently announced that it was stepping back on fees first announced in July 2015, reducing royalty rates, and has capped fees for both hardware manufacturers and content distributors.

Companies participating in the HEVC Advance patent pool include General Electric Laboratories, Royal Philips Electronics, Mitsubishi Electric and, up until now, Technicolor, which will now license its HEVC IP portfolio directly to device manufacturers.

Explaining the rationale for its move, Technicolor argued that since the emergence of the HEVC Advance pool, various players have delayed adoption of HEVC technologies and redirected their investment into alternative technologies. The company believes that its action is not only in the best interests of the company but also for the industry as a whole.

Technicolor says that it has chosen to license its patents for use in devices and does not plan to license industry players for content streaming. It adds that it is encouraging other patent holders to enter into similar agreements with device manufacturers and content owners.