和MPEG-2第一部分、第二部分，MPEG-4 第二部分一樣，使用H.264/AVC的產品製造商和服務提供商需要向他們的產品所使用的專利的持有者支付專利許可費用。這些專利許可的主要來源是一家稱為MPEG-LA，LLC的私有組織(實際上該組織和MPEG標準化組織沒有任何關聯，但是該組織也管理著MPEG-2第一部分系統、第二部分視頻、MPEG-4第二部分視頻和其它一些技術的專利許可)。部分其他的專利許可則需要向另一家稱為VIA Licensing的私有組織申請，這家公司另外也管理偏向音頻壓縮的標準如MPEG-2 AAC及MPEG-4 Audio的專利許可。
MPEG-LA 公佈License Royalties規則
Decoder-Encoder Royalties
- Royalties to be paid by end product manufacturers for an encoder, a decoder or both (“unit”) begin at US $0.20 per unit after the first 100,000 units each year. There are no royalties on the first 100,000 units each year. Above 5 million units per year, the royalty is US $0.10 per unit.
- The maximum royalty for these rights payable by an Enterprise (company and greater than 50% owned subsidiaries) is $3.5 million per year in 2005-2006, $4.25 million per year in 2007-08 and $5 million per year in 2009-10.
- In addition, in recognition of existing distribution channels, under certain circumstances an Enterprise selling decoders or encoders both (i) as end products under its own brand name to end users for use in personal computers and (ii) for incorporation under its brand name into personal computers sold to end users by other licensees, also may pay royalties on behalf of the other licensees for the decoder and encoder products incorporated in (ii) limited to $10.5 million per year in 2005-2006, $11 million per year in 2007-2008 and $11.5 million per year in 2009-2010.
- The initial term of the license is through December 31, 2010. To encourage early market adoption and start-up, the License will provide a grace period in which no royalties will be payable on decoders and encoders sold before January 1, 2005.
Participation Fees
- Title-by-Title – For AVC video (either on physical media or ordered and paid for on title-by-title basis, e.g., PPV, VOD, or digital download, where viewer determines titles to be viewed or number of viewable titles are otherwise limited), there are no royalties up to 12 minutes in length. For AVC video greater than 12 minutes in length, royalties are the lower of (a) 2% of the price paid to the licensee from licensee’s first arms length sale or (b) $0.02 per title. Categories of licensees include (i) replicators of physical media, and (ii) service/content providers (e.g., cable, satellite, video DSL, internet and mobile) of VOD, PPV and electronic downloads to end users.
- Subscription – For AVC video provided on a subscription basis (not ordered title-by-title), no royalties are payable by a system (satellite, internet, local mobile or local cable franchise) consisting of 100,000 or fewer subscribers in a year. For systems with greater than 100,000 AVC video subscribers, the annual participation fee is $25,000 per year up to 250,000 subscribers, $50,000 per year for greater than 250,000 AVC video subscribers up to 500,000 subscribers, $75,000 per year for greater than 500,000 AVC video subscribers up to 1,000,000 subscribers, and $100,000 per year for greater than 1,000,000 AVC video subscribers.
- Over-the-air free broadcast – There are no royalties for over-the-air free broadcast AVC video to markets of 100,000 or fewer households. For over-the-air free broadcast AVC video to markets of greater than 100,000 households, royalties are $10,000 per year per local market service (by a transmitter or transmitter simultaneously with repeaters, e.g., multiple transmitters serving one station).
- Internet broadcast (non-subscription, not title-by-title) – Since this market is still developing, no royalties will be payable for internet broadcast services (non-subscription, not title-by-title) during the initial term of the license (which runs through December 31, 2010) and then shall not exceed the over-the-air free broadcast TV encoding fee during the renewal term.
- The maximum royalty for Participation rights payable by an Enterprise (company and greater than 50% owned subsidiaries) is $3.5 million per year in 2006-2007, $4.25 million in 2008-09 and $5 million in 2010.
- As noted above, the initial term of the license is through December 31, 2010. To encourage early marketplace adoption and start-up, the License will provide for a grace period in which no Participation Fees will be payable for products or services sold before January 1, 2006.
簡單來說H.264降低了各項專利費的入門難度
* H.264編解碼器 10萬個用戶以內無費用；
* 每年最高許可費用也大大降低，最多500萬美元/年
如果提供VOD的服務，按次付費（點播）
12分鐘以內的內容：無許可費用
12分鐘以上的內容：終端用戶付費的2％或0.02美元/內容/ 次,取兩者中較低者
如果提供頻道的服務，訂購付費（包月）
0-10萬用戶/年：無許可費用
10萬-25萬用戶/年：2.5萬美元
25萬-50萬用戶/年：5萬美元
50萬-100萬用戶/年：7.5萬美元
超過 100萬用戶/年：10萬美元
最令人興奮的事，就是在2010前鼓勵在網際網路提供電視服務，所以如Joost等服務暫時不收費。
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