In a recent article for Streaming Media, industry expert Jan Ozer recounts the Press Conference announcing V-Nova LCEVC licensing terms, find the original Press Release here.
V-Nova, the primary developer of the Low Complexity Enhancement Video Codec (LCEVC), today announced royalty terms, which apply a capped, low per-user fee on the streaming service actually using the codec, and is free for encoder and decoder vendors. According to company president Guido Meardi, the structure is integrator friendly and applies the royalty to the “service operators who benefit directly from the standard, producing measurable quality and profitability benefits.”
For perspective, though there are minor royalties on content with H.264 and HEVC, the bulk of the royalties apply to encoders and decoders in computers, mobile devices, OTT/STB boxes, and television sets. The VP9/AV1 royalties proposed in the Sisvel patent pools apply to consumer display devices like TVs, and consumer non-display devices, like set-top boxes and OTT dongles. According to V-Nova, “we chose not to charge any fees to hardware manufacturers, operating systems, browsers and other ecosystem enablers, so as to facilitate rapid adoption at scale.”
