VC-1

Via LA’s VC-1 Patent Portfolio License provides access to essential patent rights for the VC-1 digital video coding standard (SMPTE 421M-2006) used in set-top boxes, media player and other personal computer software, mobile devices including telephones, Blu-ray Disc^TM players and recorders, Blu-ray video optical discs, game machines, personal media player devices, still and video cameras, subscription and pay-per view or title video services and other products. To align with the real-world flow of VC-1 commerce, reasonable royalties are apportioned throughout the VC-1 value chain. The License employs annual limitations to provide cost predictability, threshold levels below which certain royalties will not be charged in order to encourage early-stage adopters and minimize the impact on lower volume users or demo products, and licensing options that require no royalty reports.

To obtain a license or for additional information, please contact info@via-la.com.

Section 1 – Codec Manufacture and Sales

Products sold to end users and OEMs (except for products that are part of a personal computer’s operating system)

Decoder, encoder or product consisting of one decoder and one encoder = “unit”.

Products incorporated into a personal computer’s operating system at the time of sale

Decoder, encoder or product consisting of one decoder and one encoder = “unit”.

• Includes right to make and sell VC-1 encoders and decoders with the right of End Users to use them for personal and consumer (including internal business) purposes without remuneration but not for other uses. Both the coverage effective date and back royalty date is January 1, 2006.

Section 2 – Participation Fees

Where End User pays for VC-1 Video

Subscription (Not limited by title)

Title-by-Title

Where remuneration is from other sources

Enterprise cap (applies cumulatively across the participation fee categories in this Section 2):

• $4.25 M/year 2006-08
• $5M/year 2009-2012
• $5.5M/year 2013-2022

Coverage is effective as of January 1, 2006, and the back royalty date is from September 1, 2006.

The actual License agreement provides the only definitive and reliable statement of license terms.

*Licensees current in their obligations with respect to products reported and covered under their License; companies listed above may produce some or no products which are licensed under their respective agreement and, therefore, no conclusion may be drawn from this list that any particular products they manufacture are licensed. If you have questions about License coverage, please contact info@via-la.com.

• AT&T Intellectual Property II, L.P.
• Dolby International AB
• Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation
• Fujitsu Limited
• Hitachi, Ltd.
• JVCKENWOOD Corporation
• Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• LG Electronics Inc.*
• Microsoft Corporation
• Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
• NTT, Inc.
• Orange
• Panasonic Holdings Corporation
• Pantech Inc.
• Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
• Sharp Corporation
• Siemens AG
• Sony Group Corporation
• Sun Patent Trust
• Telenor ASA
• Toshiba Corporation
• ZTE Corporation

*Terminated.  For as long as they continue to be a Licensee, those Licensees with a license in effect prior to the date of such Licensor’s termination retain their license to such Licensor’s VC-1 Patent Portfolio patents that the Licensor or its Affiliates presently or in the future has the right to license or sublicense (without payment to any third party which is not an Affiliate), including on or after such termination date. Please see the Patent List page and reference the Attachment 1 addendum for specific termination dates.

This is a list of patents (Attachment 1) in the VC-1 Patent Portfolio License (updated November 1, 2025).

Licensors agree to include all VC-1 Essential Patents that they and their Affiliates presently or in the future have the right to license or sublicense.

To obtain a license or for additional information, please contact info@via-la.com.

Please contact Via LA at ProgramManagement@via-la.com to request a copy of the submission procedures and the terms and conditions governing the submission of patents for essentiality determination in order to join the VC-1 Licensing Program.

Pursuant to Section 1.42 of the VC-1 Patent Portfolio License, “VC-1 Standard” shall mean the video standard as defined in SMPTE 421M-2006, VC-1 Compressed Video Bitstream Format and Decoding Process.

To assist in your research, click below to download the most recent available cross-reference chart showing illustrative claims of patents in the patent families on the Attachment 1 Patent List and sections of the VC-1 Standard for which they are essential.

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