Netflix Countersues Broadcom on Patents Essential to H.264, H.265

Netflix is seeking an order declaring it doesn’t infringe “any valid claim” of Broadcom patents essential to the H.264 and H.265 video codec standards, said the streaming company’s counterclaim Monday in docket 3:20-cv-04677 at the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The case turned 2 years old July 14 on allegations that Netflix infringed a dozen Broadcom patents. Netflix also said it countersued to enforce Broadcom’s “contractual commitments” to license its standard-essential patents (SEPs) for H.264 and H.265 on reasonable and nondiscriminatory (RAND) terms. Broadcom was obligated under the ITU’s “common patent policy” to publicly declare it would license the SEPs on RAND terms, said Netflix. Broadcom “broke those promises” when it failed to identify its SEPs to Netflix and failed to offer Netflix the required RAND licenses, it said. Broadcom instead demanded that Netflix license, on “unreasonable and exorbitant terms,” Broadcom’s entire U.S. patent portfolio, “most or all of which, is irrelevant and therefore worthless to Netflix,” it said. Broadcom didn’t comment Tuesday.