Access Advance HEVC Licensors Seek Level Playing Field by Bringing Patent Infringement Suits
July 03 2024 - 9:00AM
Business Wire
Access Advance (“Advance”) today announced that HEVC Advance
Patent Pool Licensors have filed patent infringement proceedings
against Roku, Inc. (“Roku”) for infringing patents essential to the
HEVC/H.265 digital video coding standard (“HEVC”). According to the
complaints, Roku offers video streaming devices which incorporate
HEVC technology.
Despite long-term efforts by Advance to resolve patent
infringements in good faith, Roku remains unwilling to voluntarily
legalize its sales of HEVC capable products. In response, Advance
Licensors have chosen to begin enforcement actions to facilitate a
level playing field for the pool’s existing Licensees. As part of
their infringement suits, the pool Licensors are seeking payment of
past royalties from Roku and an injunction against continuing
infringement.
This news follows actions taken earlier this year in which
Advance Licensors filed patent infringement proceedings against HP
Inc. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. for also infringing patents
essential to the HEVC digital video coding standard.
The HEVC Advance Patent Pool provides fair and reasonable rates
for use of patents essential to the HEVC Standard, including HEVC
decoders and HEVC encoders for streaming on mobile and other
connected devices, 4K televisions, and digital storage devices.
Beginning in 2015, the pool has grown to 43 Licensors and over
23,000 patents, representing approximately 75-80% of all available
HEVC-essential patents. The pool has attracted over 320 Licensees,
including industry leaders such as Dell, Google, LG, Microsoft,
OPPO, Huawei, Panasonic, Sony, and Lenovo.
Access Advance Patent Pools exist to promote innovation and
reduce licensing costs and litigation by allowing companies to
obtain licenses to the essential patents of multiple Licensors
through a single agreement. By making essential technologies widely
and efficiently accessible, patent pools also allow for more
industry-wide standardization, benefiting consumers through
increased interoperability of devices. Access Advance’s Licensors
take legal action only as a last resort to ensure fair competition
in the marketplace.
About Access Advance: Access
Advance LLC is an independent licensing administrator company
formed to lead the development, administration, and management of
patent pools for licensing essential patents of the most important
standards-based video codec technologies. Access Advance provides a
transparent and efficient licensing mechanism for both patent
owners and patent implementers. Access Advance currently manages
and administers the HEVC Advance Patent Pool for licensing patents
essential to HEVC/H.265 standard, and the separate and independent
VVC Advance Patent Pool for licensing essential patents to
VVC/H.266 standard. The HEVC Advance Patent Pool and the VVC
Advance Patent Pool are elements of the Access Advance Video Codec
Platform Initiative that seamlessly incorporates HEVC and VVC
technologies into a single discounted royalty rate structure
through the Multi-Codec Bridging Agreement for eligible Licensees
whose products include both HEVC and VVC codecs. This innovation
responds to the market’s desire for an even more efficient
next-generation pool licensing structure. For more information,
please visit www.accessadvance.com.
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Jonathan Karush - press@accessadvance.com