Independent licensing administrator MPEG LA announced availability of the ATSC Patent Portfolio License. The joint license includes patents that are essential to the ATSC DTV standard. Patents from Zenith Electronics Corp., Scientific Atlanta, Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. (Panasonic), LG Electronics Inc. and Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. are included in the portfolio.
MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn said, “MPEG LA is proud to play a continuing role in support of digital television’s now and next generation. This license gives further testimony to the ability of the MPEG LA® Licensing Model to address real-world market demand for a convenient and reliable one-stop licensing alternative enabling manufacturers to focus their resources on new product development. We applaud these patent holders for their exemplary cooperation in coming together for the benefit of the marketplace with patents of demonstrated value to forge a voluntary marketplace solution inuring to the benefit of ATSC consumers.”
The royalty is $5.00 for each ATSC receiver product from Jan. 1, 1998.
Notable by its absence is Rembrandt Technologies. As reported in the July 5, 2007 RF Report, Rembrandt Technologies has claimed DTV set manufacturers, TV transmitter manufacturers, and even TV networks are infringing on its Patent number 5,243,627 - Signal Point Interleaving Technique.
