Video coding platform
Sisvel’s one-stop-shop for VP9
About VP9
VP9 is a video encoding format launched by Google on June 17, 2013. It was developed as an evolution of its predecessor, the VP8 format, with the aim of creating a more efficient codec that produces a much more compact bit-stream, especially for high- and ultra-high-definition content, while limiting the increase in decoding complexity. The “advances made by VP9 over VP8” have been defined as “natural generational progression”.
VP9 is intended to compete with AVC and HEVC for video distribution over the web. It is mainly used by Over the Top Services and is an optional codec for video calls using WebRTC.
VP9 decoding is supported by the majority of browsers and Android devices.
For additional technical information relating to the VP9 technology visit: https://www.webmproject.org/vp9/
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Patent Owners
Sisvel has the right to grant non-exclusive licences to VP9 patents owned or controlled by the following patent owners:
Dolby International AB
Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI)
Dolby Video Compression, LLC (formerly GE Video Compression, LLC)
Godo Kaisha IP Bridge
IDEAHUB Inc.
JVCKENWOOD Corporation
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)
Korean Broadcasting System (KBS)
Koninklijke Philips N.V.
NTT, Inc.
NTT Docomo
Orange S.A.
Sejong University
SK Planet Co., Ltd.
SK Telecom Co., Ltd.
Toshiba Corporation
Xylene Holding S.A.*
*Patents held by Xylene Holding S.A. include patents previously held by Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.
Patents
Sisvel has the right to grant non-exclusive licences to patents related to the VP9 specification listed in the patent brochure. Click below to download the documentation.
With regards to Sisvel’s VP9 licensing programme, some of the participating patent owners entered into an agreement covering the VP8 Video Format and further provided for sublicensing those VP8 techniques in one next-generation VPx video codec (namely the Google-MPEG LA agreement – “Google and MPEG LA Announce Agreement Covering VP8 Video Format” – https://www.mpegla.com/wp-content/uploads/n-13-03-07.pdf [mpegla.com]). Sisvel and the patent owners performed the necessary due diligence prior to creating the VP9 programme and the patent review was carried out with extreme care to ensure that the programme offers licences only to the VP9 specification patents which have not already been licensed under the aforementioned agreement.
The table in the documents below allows interested parties to understand how the VP9 patents licensed by Sisvel are utilised by products complying with those specifications and, to this end, indicates relevant specifications and sections of the specifications.
NB. Patents held by Xylene Holding S.A. include patents previously held by Mitsubishi Electric Corp.
* the Patent Brochure and Patent List will be supplemented and updated from time to time when new evaluations are concluded
VP9 Licence Terms
Sisvel offers royalty-bearing, non-transferable, non-assignable, non-exclusive licences, with no right to grant sublicences, to patents related to the VP9 specification. The licence offered covers any consumer product making use of the VP9 specification.
The licence offered by Sisvel does not cover components or subassemblies such as, without limitation, chipsets, semiconductor components or embedded modules.
The royalty rates are offered on a per product basis, applicable to consumer devices making use of the VP9 specification, as per the table below:
Standard Rate | Compliant Rate | |
|---|---|---|
Consumer Display Device* | EUR 0.24 | EUR 0.18 |
Consumer Non-Display Device** | EUR 0.08 | EUR 0.06 |
*Consumer Display Device means any consumer product that is capable of enabling visual demonstration or presentation of data and/or images, such as but not limited to smartphones, tablets, notebooks, computers, convertibles, TVs, video projectors, photo cameras (with display) and video cameras (with display).
**Consumer Non-Display Device means any consumer product that is not capable of enabling visual demonstration or presentation of data and/or images, such as but not limited to set-top-boxes, video and gaming consoles, virtual reality and/or augmented reality devices, dongles, decoders and players, home theatres and streaming media players, photo cameras (without display), video cameras (without display), desktop PCs (without display) and graphic cards.
Provided a licensee is in full compliance with its obligations under the VP9 licence agreement, the applicable royalty rate payable for each licensed product is the Compliant Rate.
As an alternative to the above running royalty scheme, a yearly committed volume scheme can be chosen. Under such scheme, the royalties are paid in advance per calendar year for the undertaken committed volume of a relevant VP9 product category as per the tables below:
Consumer Display Devices
Minimum Commitment threshold (no. of units) | Maximum Commitment threshold (no. of units) | Applicable royalty rate per unit |
|---|---|---|
1 | 100,000 | EUR 0.126 |
100,001 | 1,000,000 | EUR 0.117 |
1,000,001 | 25,000,000 | EUR 0.108 |
25,000,001 | 75,000,000 | EUR 0.099 |
75,000,001 or above | unlimited | EUR 0.090 |
Consumer Non-Display Devices
Minimum Commitment threshold (no. of units) | Maximum Commitment threshold (no. of units) | Applicable royalty rate per unit |
|---|---|---|
1 | 20,000 | EUR 0.042 |
20,001 | 200,000 | EUR 0.039 |
200,001 | 5,000,000 | EUR 0.036 |
5,000,001 | 14,000,000 | EUR 0.033 |
14,000,001 or above | unlimited | EUR 0.030 |
Further information is available upon request.
The complete terms and conditions of the licence offering under Sisvel’s VP9 licence programme can be found under the following link: VP9 agreement.
Number of licensees
This is the number of companies which currently have a finalised licence agreement covering the VP9 and/or AV1 patents.
Current VP9 / AV1 Licensees
62
*Please note that this section will be updated on a regular basis
Documents
For your convenience, please find below supporting documentation for the completion of a licence application.