http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/ Engadget Comments for Know Your Rights: H.264, patent licensing, and you http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Here's the thing -- I know I left out a lot of angles here, and I know a lot of people are going to disagree with my general conclusions. That's great, and I'm all for the discussion. But a lot of people are still totally fuzzy on the basics of how this works, and especially how these issues will hit them as they run around living their actual lives. That's what I was trying to cover here, because I think a rational rundown of the main points has been sorely missing.

I'm totally open to your comments and questions, and MPEG-LA has agreed to field some user questions later this week, so hit me up.]]>May 4th 2010 4:38PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Typical Apple propaganda promoting its own products. If steve supports HTML5 then why he won't make HTML5 videos instead of quick time on Apple's website.]]>May 4th 2010 4:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
"things get downright heated when you mix in the fact that Apple's making the biggest push for H.264, because, well, people get incredibly irrational when it comes to hating or loving Apple."]]>May 4th 2010 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Hey, what about Ogg Theora? Doesn't Mozilla support that? Isn't that both open *and* free?]]>May 4th 2010 4:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:45PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
It's not irrational, If he wants HTML5 then he should start with his website to play H.264 in HTML5. This also applies to microsoft, they should replace silver light with HTML5 if they are going to jump on the HTML5 bandwagon. ]]>May 4th 2010 4:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Nilay, before all this thread fills up with some "heated comments" I just want to say - THANK YOU!

I was as fuzzy on this as they come! This is a great start for further reading. ]]>May 4th 2010 4:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
I'm glad you included the extremely important issue of... Ke$ha.

Honestly good stuff. Looks like Mozilla may be screwed, unfortunately.]]>May 4th 2010 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 4:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/ugh i know, every few weeks i get an update for it...
every time i wonder why the heck i still have it installed...]]>May 4th 2010 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Yeah so it's okay to ditch Flash but it's not okay to ditch Quicktime and Silverlight despite saying "HTML5 is the future" BS when none of them want to adopt HTML5. Stop being loyal to corporations or else you will lose at the end. As much as i like MS, i talk straight and forward, MS simply support its own products by default, same goes for Apple. ]]>May 4th 2010 5:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
"First off, we've directly asked MPEG-LA whether or not using an H.264 camera simply to shoot video for a commercial purpose requires a license, and the answer is no."

Only the people who sell the encoder and the people who sell the video to the end user have to pay, and there's no royalty for free video on the Internet until 2015.]]>May 4th 2010 5:04PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
The actual licensing language is the only thing that matters.

Verbal reassurances from the potential plaintiff don't mean squat.Stuff has to be in writing or it's meaningless. What's currently in writing is rightfully disturbing to a lot of people.

Depending on the MPEG-LA to exercise restraint is put mildly foolish. There are recent examples of that kind of thinking having disasterous results. If I mention it by name then we will have an entirely separate flamefest.]]>May 4th 2010 5:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
One thing you didn't mention... _When_ will these H.264 patents expire?]]>May 4th 2010 5:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/If I want to upload videos to my website, to make money through advertising on my website, do I have to pay MPEG-LA?
I've been using Flash video to do this in the past. Is there a compelling reason I should change?
Does Flash video come with any of the legal snafus that H.264 presents?]]>May 4th 2010 5:06PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Great post. One of my favorites of all time on Engadget.

Ogg has the potential to really take off. The difference in quality is nill for internet videos. When you throw around big hitters like Google and Firefox in the webspace they can certainly help change the course. I don't think it will happen overnight but I'm not sold that H.264 will be the standard in 3 years.]]>May 4th 2010 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
I wish I would have said this.]]>May 4th 2010 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Currently, i'm using flash to play H.264 encoded videos. Presumably flash has paid the licensing fees required here?

But also in the short term, we're going to support HTML5's video tag. Is that up to the browser to pay the H.264 licensing fees and not us, even though we serve the H.264 encoded videos ourselves?]]>May 4th 2010 5:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Did you not read the article!?, dear God, seriously.]]>May 4th 2010 5:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
I'll push them a little harder in the followup, but I think a good defense lawyer could bake a cake out of that argument and serve it to the judge with a glass of champagne.]]>May 4th 2010 5:11PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
It's very informative. The standards war is something I don't really care to argue about,but I will say that flash games are here for a while yet.]]>May 4th 2010 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
I can give you a high five, though.]]>May 4th 2010 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:17PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:19PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
You didn't finish reading the article.]]>May 4th 2010 5:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/Netflix uses Silverlight...]]>May 4th 2010 5:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Nilay, I just wanted to say thanks for this fascinating read. I'd heard all sorts of things about Flash vs HTML5 and how one was more "open" than the other and this just provided a lot of context to help understand what's going on with it all.]]>May 4th 2010 5:30PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/Ever get that feeling you're talking to a brick wall? ]]>May 4th 2010 5:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/"Using H.264 to distribute free internet video to end users doesn't cost a thing, and won't cost anything until at least 2015."

Isn't this what coke-dealers do to get people hooked and then turn around and hold a gun over their heads in the end?? Ask them to contrast and compare THAT!

This whole "not until 2015" deal is a sham! Don't take the bait or you'll get hooked!!!]]>May 4th 2010 5:39PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Great article. Very informative but can someone please write about pros and cons to HTML5 and Flash. it seems like this is going to be the format war for 2010 and beyond. Big companies have chosen sides but nobody really has a non biased reason for choosing either one.

We all know jobs reason for backing HTML5 (some are legit some really aren't) but as much as i know (which isn't a lot) HTML5 cant fully replace "flash" Doesn't it only replace FLV? Can HTML5 really do everything flash can and more? Nothing changes over night but people seem to think that since Apples screaming from rooftops praising HTML5 that the world should just flip the switch.

I am def not all PRO Adobe. They have been sloppy in some cases with Flash and maybe a little competition will spark some innovation.

i just think the average person is ignorant to the facts about H.264, Flash and HTML5. A simple Pro and cons like this article would be great.]]>May 4th 2010 5:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Yeah and the irony is there's nothing free ]]>May 4th 2010 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
That's what i am talking about. ]]>May 4th 2010 5:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/Very interesting and helpful post. I've been wondering about this stuff for a while. Thanks!]]>May 4th 2010 5:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 5:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 6:14PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
Hey, I just wanted to say that this is a well worded, extremely helpful article. I get questions about this stuff a lot and from now on I'm sending people to your article first. Well done!]]>May 4th 2010 6:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/
- isn't it true MPEG-LA is actively investigating the open source Theora codec for violating their license ?In other words : how credible is their stance about openess if they go after the one open source video codec? This was in a leaked Steve Jobs email in fact....

- isn't it true they are - maybe- renewing their license 5 years from now but we do not know yet if they will charge royalties ( it's free for them to do so ) and doesn't that very fact mean their credibility regarding "free use " is at odds with that? Even a Microsoft spokesman couldn't guarantee that which is the basis for all the unrest in the first place.

If they were truly sincere about it remaining free they should do away with the entire 5 year license thing and include that clause in their patent or license text . The fact they don't is suggesting they will charge royalties down the line and not just from commercial users.


The article is a good start but I sugegst all folks to thoroughly read articles on other sites as well. OSnews isn't just basing their article on their own personal opinion, the net is full of concerned designers/video producers and normal users blogging about this or writing articles.You're acting like the OSnews article is baseless. That's my only complaint about your summary.


]]>May 4th 2010 6:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/http://www.engadget.com/2010/05/04/know-your-rights-h-264-patent-licensing-and-you/May 4th 2010 6:44PM