MPEG Industry Forum

The MPEG Industry Forum is a not-for-profit organization with the following goal: To further the adoption of MPEG Standards, by establishing them as well accepted and widely used standards among creators of content, developers, manufacturers, providers of services, and end users."

What does MPEGIF do?

The activities of MPEGIF generally start where MPEG stops. This includes issues that MPEG cannot deal with, e.g. because of ISO rules, such as clearance of patents. This following is a list of MPEGIF's current activities:

Promoting the emerging MPEG standards (MPEG-4, MPEG-7 and MPEG-21), and serving as a single point of information on technology, products and services for these standards;
Carrying out interoperability tests, which lead to an ecosystem of interoperable products. Over 30 companies have tested their products in MPEGIF's MPEG-4 interop program;
Establishing an MPEG-4 Logo Qualification Program program, which will come with the right to carry MPEGIF's MP4 logo MPEGIF Logo Qualifciation Program;
Organization of and participation in trade show events - MPEGIF produces Master Class sessions at NAB and IBC each year and promote the floor presence of its members. In many more shows we organize panels and or provide speakers and moderators.
Initiate discussions leading to the potential establishment of patent pools outside of MPEGIF, that should grant a license to an unlimited number of applicants throughout the world under reasonable terms and conditions that are demonstrably free of any unfair competition. This work has largely finished, now that licensing programs have been established outside of MPEGIF. (NB: It is not MPEGIF's role to license patents or to determine license conditions. Read our patent page for more information)

How does MPEGIF operate?

The following is a non-exhaustive excerpt from MPEGIF's Statutes about the way of operation:

The purpose of MPEGIF shall be pursued by: promoting MPEG standards, making available information on MPEG standards, making available MPEG tools or giving information on where to obtain these, creating a single point for information about MPEG standards, creating industrial focus around the usage of MPEG standards.
The goals are realized through the open international collaboration of all interested parties, on reasonable terms applied uniformly and openly. MPEGIF will contribute the results of its activities to appropriate formal standards bodies if applicable.
The business of MPEGIF shall not be conducted for the financial profits of its Members but for their mutual benefits.
Any corporation and individual firm, partnership, governmental body or international organization supporting the purpose of MPEGIF may apply for Membership.
Members are not bound to implement or use specific technology standards, or recommendations by virtue of participation in MPEGIF.
There are two kinds of Membership: Full and Associate. Associate membership is open to all not-for-profit organizations (including, but not limited to, governmental organizations and educational institutions). Except for the right to vote in General Assemblies, Associate Members have the same rights as Full members and they can participate in all activities.
The membership fee for July 1st - June 30th is set at US$ 3,000 per full year and pro-rated quarterly thereafter. (after the 1st of September) for Full Membership.
The membership fee for Associate Members is US$ 300 for the full year (there is no pro-rated discount for Associate Members

MPEGIF's homepage www.mpegif.org

MPEGIF's website has a wealth of information on the MPEG-4 standard and is starting to collect information on MPEG-7 and MPEG-21 as well, has many links to external resources and is always up-to-date with respect to the latest rlevant news and press releases. The website is updated daily, if not more often. Through the website, anyone can sign up to MPEGIF's News, Discussion and Technology mailing lists. There is also information about joining MPEGIF, which entails following a simple, mostly on-line procedure.

MPEGIF currently has over 50 Members and well over 2000 people subscribed to its mailing lists. Members represent very broad, worldwide interests across the board, from sectors including consumer electronics, chip manufacturers, professional equipment makers, content providers, computer makers, software companies, telecommunications, research institutions and more. Many members are MPEG-4 technology providers, some of them are technology users. MPEGIF has established, large companies, as well relatively new, smaller companies among its members, and members are equally distributed over Asia-Pacific, Europe and Northern America. Our membership goes beyond the MPEG constituency, because many companies just don't need to be involved in the development phase of the standard to be in the MPEG business.

MPEGIF holds 1 physical meeting per year. This meeting is generally attended by 30-40 people from all over the world. Meeting places are found where the membership is: in North America, Europeand Asia/Pacific.