Cross-licensingAgreement
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Coalition of companies creates WebM Community Cross License initiative
When Google unveiled its WebM open source media format and declared it to be the one codec to rule all others, there were those who decried its usefulness and felt that H.264 should inherit the earth. WebM's power converted some of those staunch detractors, and to rally more to the VP8 / Vorbis cause, 17 companies have now formed the WebM Community Cross-License (CCL) initiative by inter-mingling their WebM-related IP resources. The initiative was founded so that all may use El Goog's preferred multimedia codec free from the threat of patent litigation, and the CCL superfriends will welcome more members to bolster their legal might -- but those wishing to join must grant a royalty-free license to any of their patents that cover WebM technology. A passion for streamlining web standards and a willingness to spread the word about WebM couldn't hurt, either -- new formats don't sell themselves, y'know.
Intel threatens AMD with termination of x86 license within 60 days
Intel's been making noise about AMD's Globalfoundries manufacturing spinoff potentially violating the two companies' patent cross-licensing agreement for a while now, and it looks like things are escalating: AMD's latest SEC filing says that Intel's formally threatened to terminate the license if AMD doesn't make it better within 60 days. It's not clear exactly what Intel wants here -- we doubt anyone thinks AMD is going to undo the spinoff -- so we'll see what happens next, but we've got a feeling Intel's trying to put the boot down while AMD's on the ground.[Thanks, Chris]Read - ReutersRead - AMD SEC filing
Kodak signs into patent cross-license agreement with Nokia
Details are pretty scant at the moment, but Eastman Kodak Company has entered into a mysterious patent license agreement with Nokia. All we're told is that the deal will enable each outfit "access to the other's intellectual property portfolio," and it'll also provide "significant benefits to both companies, [while being] royalty bearing to Kodak." Outside of that, we're left to wonder what's in store here, so what they hey -- we'll take a stab: a Kodak sensor within the not-yet-conceived N97? Or maybe a Kodak-branded printer-scanner-fax machine in the Tube 2? The intrigue is killing us.[Via phonescoop]
