Programme manager Valentina Piola explains the steps our pool has taken to bring clarity to a market clouded by relentless misinformation 

By Valentina Piola 

The Sisvel AV1 patent pool has been a smashing success, licensing approximately 50% of the AV1 finished product market – a clear validation of the programme and its value.  

Such coverage would be a major accomplishment for any pool, but it is particularly important given the context: the AV1 codec has been the subject of significant confusion regarding the technologies it uses and implementer royalty obligations.  

We are proud that Sisvel’s AV1 licensing programme has not only generated licence revenue for companies whose innovations are essential to the technology, but it has also brought unprecedented transparency to the space – a win for everyone in the market. 

Transparency measures 

Sisvel’s AV1 patent pool was launched in 2019 with four founding members. Since its inception, the programme has experienced significant growth and, with the recent addition of Kyung Hee University, now comprises 21 patent owners. Together, they provide licensees with access to over 1,900 patents relevant to the AV1 video coding specification. 

As the programme has grown, so has the volume of detail we have published about AV1 patents, and this provides important insight to the market.  The information available on our programme page and the licensing practices we have adopted reinforce our commitment to transparency: 

• The public patent list currently details 1,941 patents owned by the 21 licensors in the pool. 

• Patents are only added to the list once an independent third party has evaluated a member of the patent family and confirmed its use in implementing AV1 technology. This follows the practice in all Sisvel programmes, regardless of whether they deal with a formal standard or a non-standard technical specification such as AV1.  

• The list is updated regularly as new evaluations become available. Patents are removed from the list if they are held invalid by a court or a relevant body such as the PTAB. 

• The patent brochure indicates illustrative sections of the AV1 specification in which the claims of each patent are relevant. 

• The licence terms, including royalty rates, are displayed on our programme page. A template sublicence agreement is available there for anyone to review.  

• In both the pool facilitation process and in our licensing efforts, Sisvel and the patent owners in the programme have treated the AV1 patents with the same level of care and fair approach used when licensing SEPs. 

Outside the formal licensing process, we’ve also made efforts to educate the market, launching informational campaigns, setting the record straight on common questions and correcting misconceptions about AV1 from both commercial and technical perspectives.

Transparency is a two-way street 

As the market has learned more about the AV1 rights landscape and our licensing solution, deals have followed. Earlier this year we announced our latest publicly-disclosed AV1 licence agreement, with Panasonic.  

The deals we have been able to announce represent the tip of the iceberg. Approximately half of finished products using AV1 technology are licensed under the programme. That’s a huge level of progress, but it would be difficult to glean based solely on the press releases we have issued about new agreements. 

We are always keen to announce the deals we make and tell the market who we have made them with. But deal disclosure is a matter of negotiation between the two parties, and licensees are not always willing to publicly acknowledge the existence of an agreement. 

Since 2019 we have done a lot to help AV1 users understand who owns relevant patents, which patents correspond to which parts of the specification and what licensing terms are available. They should also understand that a large section of the market has accepted the Sisvel AV1 pool solution. 

As a result, the licensing landscape around the technology is much clearer than it used to be and more companies are deploying the codec in the market. This is a major success for patent licensing that rewards innovators while helping technology reach consumers. It should be recognised and celebrated. 

Valentina Piola is Programme Manager for Sisvel’s Video Coding Platform, which covers the AV1 and VP9 codecs