[M4IF Discuss] On2 and IPR

[Iain Richardson (ensigr)]

I had a look at the source code for On2's VP3 codec : at a first glance
it seems to be similar to MP4 Simple Profile, i.e. based on DCT with
half-pixel motion estimation, 4 MVs per macroblock, etc. Given that we
are told that Simple Profile is covered by the MP4 patent pool, I would
think that the VP3 may also be open to patent claims. Any comments ?
At 13:28 +0100 3/18/02, AVARO Olivier FTRD/DIH/REN wrote:
>Hi Dave, all,
>
>  > They also seem to feel that there are no alternatives, but this is
>>  not the case.  On2's statements may be clumsy and mistaken, but they
>>  are at liberty to offer, for example, more acceptable licensing
terms
>>  to industry consortia who simply replace the MPEG-4 video codec with
>>  theirs.  There are other vendors in a similar position.  There are
>>  also other standards -- the H.26x series obviously springs to mind.
>
>On2 is not capable of guaranteing that their codec is IPR free and 
>IPR exist on the H.26L baseline. These "solutions" are therefore 
>confronted with the same pb. as MPEG-4. On2 is amalgaming Open 
>Source and Royalty free solutions to get more PR points. H.26L is a 
>fair attempt to provide a Royalty free standard but in its current 
>shape it is unable to guarantee success.
>

---
Dr Iain E G Richardson
Lecturer and Researcher
School of Engineering, The Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen, UK
Tel +44 1224 262403; Fax +44 1224 262444
i.g.richardson   rgu.ac.uk