I dug around the MPEG4 LA website and found this from a powerpoint on their FAQ page: http://www.mpegla.com/m4v/m4v-faq.cfm
Here's my non-lawyer take on it: -If you are charging per title, and content is less than 12 minutes long, no royalty. Otherwise, its something like 2 cents per title. -If you are charging via subscription, and you have less than 100,000 subs, no royalty. -If you are doing a "free internet broadcast", then no royalty until 2008 Otherwise, once you have a decent audience size and are making money, you'll have to pay up. Doesn't seem too draconion to me, though it could become a mild pain to worry about for micro-commercial-content producers. +Nathan **************** Where End User pays for MPEG-4 Video Title-by-Title - 12 minutes or less = no royalty; >12 minutes in length = lower of (a) 2% of first Arm’s-Length Sale or (b) $0.02 per title. Licensees are (a) replicators of physical media and (b) direct sellers of other media. Subscription (not Title-by-Title): 0-100,000 subs/year = no royalty; >100,000-250,000 subs/year = $25,000; >250,000 – 500,000 subs/year = $50,000; >500,000-1M subs/year = $75,000; >1M – 5M subs/year = $100,000; >5M – 25M subs/year = $200,000; >25M subs = $300,000 Where remuneration is from other sources Free Television (not Title-by-Title, Subscription or Free Internet Broadcast) - one-time fee of $2,500 per transmission encoder Free Internet Broadcast (not Title-by-Title or Subscription) – no royalty during first term (through 2008; not greater than Free Television thereafter) Enterprise cap - $3 million per year Royalties payable on products from January 1, 2004 ************** More here: http://www.mpegla.com/m4v/m4v-faq.cfm Verdi wrote: >For those of you using MPEG4 or H.264 - check out the QuickTime user >agreement related to commercial uses (if you are thinking of that): > >< http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/quicktime7.html > > > >14. Use of MPEG-4. This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 Systems >Patent Portfolio License for encoding in compliance with the MPEG-4 >Systems Standard, except that an additional license and payment of >royalties are necessary for encoding in connection with (i) data >stored or replicated in physical media which is paid for on a title >by title basis and/or (ii) data which is paid for on a title by title >basis and is transmitted to an end user for permanent storage and/or >use. Such additional license may be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See >http://www.mpegla.com for additional details. > >This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio >License for the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) >encoding video in compliance with the MPEG-4 Visual Standard ("MPEG-4 >Video") and/or (ii) decoding MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a >consumer engaged in a personal and non-commercial activity and/or was >obtained from a video provider licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 >video. No license is granted or shall be implied for any other use. > >Additional information including that relating to promotional, >internal and commercial uses and licensing may be obtained from MPEG >LA, LLC. See http: //www.mpegla.com. For answers to frequently asked >questions regarding use fees under the MPEG LA Visual Patent >Portfolio License see www.apple.com/mpeg4 or www.apple.com/quicktime/ >pro/faq.html. > >15. H.264/AVC Notice. To the extent that the Apple Software contains >AVC encoding and/or decoding functionality, commercial use of H.264/ >AVC requires additional licensing and the following provision >applies: THE AVC FUNCTIONALITY IN THIS PRODUCT IS LICENSED HEREIN >ONLY FOR THE PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL USE OF A CONSUMER TO (i) >ENCODE VIDEO IN COMPLIANCE WITH THE AVC STANDARD ("AVC VIDEO") AND/OR >(ii) DECODE AVC VIDEO THAT WAS ENCODED BY A CONSUMER ENGAGED IN A >PERSONAL AND NON-COMMERCIAL ACTIVITY AND/OR AVC VIDEO THAT WAS >OBTAINED FROM A VIDEO PROVIDER LICENSED TO PROVIDE AVC VIDEO. >INFORMATION REGARDING OTHER USES AND LICENSES MAY BE OBTAINED FROM >MPEG LA L.L.C. SEE HTTP://WWW.MPEGLA.COM. > > > > >Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > > -- +my life: http://nathan.freitas.net +my videoblog: http://openvision.tv/itcamefrombrooklyn +my cause: http://tibetwillbefree.blogspot.com +my skype: nathanialfreitas -- Find and watch unique internet video through my original software: I/ON Internet Video Console at http://openvision.tv ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Most low income households are not online. Help bridge the digital divide today! http://us.click.yahoo.com/cd_AJB/QnQLAA/TtwFAA/lBLqlB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/videoblogging/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
