MPEG LA, the one-stop technology patent licensing shop, has issued a call for patents that are essential to the DVB-H standard. The standard is a specification of the DVB Project and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) for carrying multimedia services over digital terrestrial broadcast networks to handheld terminals.
The purpose of the call is to begin a process of evaluating and determining patents that are essential for the DVB-H standard in order to include them in a joint patent portfolio license providing users with access to this technology. DVB-H builds on the (DVB Project/ETSI) DVB-T digital terrestrial television transmission standard for which MPEG LA already offers a patent portfolio license.
Any party that believes it has a patent that is essential to the DVB-H standard and would like to join a patent portfolio license upon successful evaluation is invited to submit its patent(s) for an evaluation of essentiality by MPEG LA’s patent experts. Initial submissions are requested by March 1, 2005.
Interested parties may request a copy of the terms and procedures governing patent submissions by visiting the "Programs in Development" section at www.mpegla.com, then clicking on "DVB-H."