MPEG LA, the patent licensing agency, has made a call for patents essential to ATSC implementation.
The licensing agency’s call launches a process that will result in a portfolio of essential patents that users may license to gain “fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access” to the technology, according to the agency. Licensing the portfolios is intended to provide an efficient alternative to negotiating individual licensing terms with each holder of an essential ATSC patent.
Essential patents pertaining to ATSC will consist of issued or otherwise enforceable patents having one or more claims that are infringed by use or implementation of the following:
- Doc. A/53C: ATSC Standard: Digital Television Standard (A/53), revision C including Amendment No. 1
- Doc. A/65B: ATSC Standard: Program System Information Protocol for Terrestrial Broadcast and Cable (Revision B)
- Doc. A/69: ATSC Recommended Practice: Program and System Information Protocol Implementation Guidelines for Broadcasters
- Doc. A/74: ATSC Recommended Practice: Receiver Performance Guidelines
- Doc. A/54A: Recommended Practice: Guide to the Use of the ATSC Digital Television Standard
The deadline for initial submission of patents for the ATSC call is Feb. 15.
For more information, visit www.mpegla.com.
