|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 19, 2001 The first meeting of the MPEG-4 Audio patent licensing committee (M4AudioLC) took place today in Fairfax, VA, USA. This group has the goal of developing a simple mechanism to provide fair, reasonable, non-discriminatory, worldwide access to MPEG-4 Audio (High Quality Audio, Mobile Audio Internetworking and Speech profiles) essential patents. In order to realize that goal, the licensing committee has set forth an aggressive timetable, with its next meetings scheduled in November and January. The M4AudioLC currently consists of 13 essential patent holders, each holding at least one patent that was identified by an independent patent expert as being essential for practicing the High Quality Audio, Mobile Audio Internetworking or Speech profiles of the MPEG-4 Audio standard (ISO/IEC 14496-3:2001). The licensing committee expects to be able to offer a license for all essential patents needed for commercial use of MPEG-4 audio technology, and is committed to structuring the license in a way that is responsive to the needs of the worldwide market. M4AudioLC's objective is to provide access to as many essential MPEG-4 Audio patents as possible for the convenience of the marketplace. Therefore, any company believing it has patents essential to the normative part of the MPEG-4 Speech profile, Mobile Audio Internetworking profile or High Quality Audio profile and wishing to join the M4AudioLC, is invited to contact the Evaluation Administrator, Patrick J. Fay, Esq, of Fay Kaplun & Marcin, LLP, 100 Maiden Lane, 17th Floor, New York, NY 10038, Tel.: (212) 898-8870, Fax: (212) 208-6819, Email: M4IF@FKMipLaw.com, to initiate the submission procedure. |