Independent Firm, HEVC Advance, Wants To Start One-Stop-Shop HEVC Patent Pool

An independent license administration company, HEVC Advance, wants to start a one-stop-shop patent pool for the HEVC platform, the company said in a Thursday announcement. The HEVC Advance patent pool "will address marketplace demand for an additional licensing option of HEVC essential patents," the company said. It expects to attract a "critical mass" of HEVC patent holders, with more than 500 "essential patents" to be available for license at launch, and the number of patents expected to grow significantly soon thereafter, it said. It named Dolby Labs, General Electric, Mitsubishi, Philips and Technicolor as likely to be on "the initial list of licensors." Royalty rates and licensing terms will be made available in Q2 in preparation for a formal launch in Q3, it said. The announcement would appear to put HEVC Advance in competition with MPEG LA, which runs an HEVC license program as a one-stop shop for about two dozen companies and universities that hold HEVC-related patents, including Apple, Fujitsu, Hitachi Maxell, NEC, NTT DoCoMo, Samsung and Siemens. Last week, MPEG LA said it updated coverage of its HEVC patent portfolio to reflect recent ITU revisions in the HEVC standard (see 1503190037).