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Can We Legislate Past the H.264 Debate?
Midnight Warrior writes "We could solve the H.264 debate if a country's legislature were to mandate that any patents that contribute to an industry-recognized standard were unenforceable in the application of that standard. Ideally, each standard would also be required to have a 'reference design' that could be used without further licensing. This could also solve problems with a ton of other deeply entrenched areas like hard drives, DRAM, etc. RAND tries to solve this strictly within industry, but both the presence of submarine patents and the low bar required to obtain a patent have made an obvious mess. Individual companies also use patent portfolios to set up mutually assured destruction. I'm not convinced that industry can solve this mess that government created. But I'm not stupid; this clearly has a broad ripple effect. Are there non-computer industries where this would be fatal? What if the patents were unenforceable only if the standard had a trademark and the implementer was compliant at the time of 'infringement'? Then, the patents could still be indirectly licensed, but it would force strict adherence to standards and would require the patent holders to fund the trademark group to defend it to the end. In the US model, of course."
You're a smartass. Everybody hates a smartass.
From scarped cliff or quarried stone she cries "A thousand types are gone, I care for nothing, no not one."
I don't think it'll in any way be practical to expropriate that IP, which is essentially what you are talking about. However, that is not the biggest problem with patents. The biggest problem with patents is that a standard is never proven patent free, only that no claim of infringement has been made against it yet. This is why I would like standards bodies to have the ability to call for patents, and any patent claim not made within a reasonable time frame is forfeit as related to that standard. A relevant current example is Theora - they claim it's patent free but is it really? What if someone like ISO or ITU-T could publish the standard, demand that any patent claims must be done within three months and if none were made you knew with 100% certainty that any later claims are null and void? It would be wonderful. I don't see this as a way of freeing IP, but it would go a long way of reducing patent FUD and submarine patents. Even if it should turn out to be patented you know which bits and could work to remove those and try again.
Live today, because you never know what tomorrow brings
Actually, you're not licensed to do it even BEFORE the 150k people viewing it- that's just the threshold at which they have chosen to ENFORCE their IP rights. You technically still need a license for it (Check the licensing details on your gear, even the pro-grade stuff will tell you that you need a separate license for professional uses of the gear. They're not kidding.).
And stating that it's relevant to video sharing sites- they're an enabler, but YOU are the one on the hook, not they (because there's yet another license THEY have to have to do what they're doing...) and you're still needing that license in addition to the one they're paying.
As for Theora being better than h.264... No, you'd be right about that. It's on a rough par with MPEG4- VP8's closer to what you're looking for and if rumor's right Theora 2 will be in that space. Having said that, I'd prefer a web (and others...) standard to be something that's utterly unencumbered. All it'd take is for one player to play grab-em like Unisys did with LZW and you owe money all over the place. It could just as easily as not happen with h.264.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
They'll come mug you for money at that point and it's NOT cheap.
It's dirt cheap.
Retail sale, disks or downloads:
Where an end user pays directly for video services on a title-by-title basis ...royalties for video greater than 12 minutes (there is no royalty for a title 12 minutes or less) are...the lower of 2% of the price paid to the Licensee (on first arms length sale of the video) or $0.02 per title
Paid subscription services:
Where an end user pays directly for video services on a subscription-basis (not ordered or limited title-by-title), the applicable royalties per legal entity payable by the service or content provider are:
100,000 or fewer subscribers per year. No royalty.
100,000 to 250,000. $25,000
250,000-500,000. $50,000.
500,000 to 1 million $75,000.
Over $1 Million. $100,000.
Broadcast, Cable and Satellite:
where remuneration is from other sources, in the case of free television...satellite and/or cable Transmission, and which is not paid for by an End User), the licensee (the broadcaster) may pay...according to one of two royalty options:
(i) a one-time payment of $2,500 per AVC transmission encoder
or (ii) annual fee per Broadcast Market
starting at $2,500 per calendar year per Broadcast Markets of at least 100,000
but no more than 499,999 television households
$5,000 per calendar year per Broadcast
Market which includes at least 500,000 but no more than 999,999 television households
and $10,000 per calendar year per Broadcast Market which includes 1,000,000 or more television households.
Free distribution over the Internet:
In the case of Internet broadcast for which the End User does not pay remuneration for the right to receive or view, i.e., neither title-by-title nor subscription), there will be no royalty during the first term of the License (ending December 31, 2010), and after the first term the royalty shall be no more than the economic equivalent of royalties payable during the same time for free television.
The Cap
In the case of the sublicenses for video content or service providers, the maximum annual royalty ("cap") for an enterprise (commonly controlled legal entities) is... $5 million per year in 2010.
$5 million a year for as many free H.264 video downloads (over 12 minutes) as Google has the capacity to host.
License terms.
Five years. 10% increase cap on renewals.
SUMMARY OF AVC/H.264 LICENSE TERMS
And stating that it's relevant to video sharing sites- they're an enabler, but YOU are the one on the hook, not they (because there's yet another license THEY have to have to do what they're doing...) and you're still needing that license in addition to the one they're paying.
Shorts under 12 minutes long are royalty free.
Period.
Amateur or professional production.
Free or paid distribution. It doesn't matter.
Royalties on SALES of disks or downloads are 2% of the retail price or 2 cents a title, whichever is LOWER.
MPEG LA doesn't give a damn about your wedding videos.
Subscription services with less than 100,000 paid subscribers are also royalty free. Your "viewer supported" Free Culture magazine on DVD+R is a go.
Own a cable service or TV station in a market of less than 100,000 households?
The one time fee for an AVC transmission encoder is $2,500.
SUMMARY OF AVC/H.264 LICENSE TERMS