Dolby’s Via Licensing unveils patent pool merger
Via Licensing and MPEG LA have formed Via LA | Firms say it is the largest licensing organisation in consumer electronics.
Dolby Laboratories subsidiary Via Licensing has merged with patent pool administrator MPEG LA to form a new licensing organisation set to be the largest in the consumer electronics industry.
Via Licensing Alliance (Via LA) will consolidate dozens of patent pools covering a range of technologies into one organisation, which it says will simplify the licensing process for participants.
MPEG LA’s MPEG-2 licensing programme provides access to patents essential to the MPEG-2 Systems coding standard used in set-top boxes, cameras and mobile television and audio receivers, without licensed video encoders or decoders.
Among its services, Via Licensing administers a joint patent licence which provides coverage for advanced audio coding (AAC) technologies.
Affiliates of General Electric Company, Koninklijke Philips, and Mitsubishi Electric will convert their partial ownership in MPEG LA to the newly formed Via LA.
Three new members have been appointed to Via LA’s board of directors from the firms: Patrick Patnode, president of GE Licensing, an affiliate of General Electric Company, Jako Eleveld, VP and head of IP licensing at Koninklijke Philips, and Keiko Higuchi, senior manager and head of patent pools in the corporate licensing division of Mitsubishi Electric.
Heath Hoglund, who was president of Via before the merger, will serve as president of Via LA. Larry Horn is retiring as CEO of MPEG LA but will act as an advisor to Via LA.
The new organisation will be headquartered in San Francisco, with offices in Denver, London, Shanghai, Tokyo, and Washington, DC.
“Via LA combines the best capabilities in the licensing industry to deliver efficient, transparent, and balanced intellectual property solutions to thousands of partners around the world,” said Hoglund.
“This pool of pools provides an efficient mechanism for innovators with broad portfolios to get their technologies to the mass market and enables easy access to a broad range of necessary IP for implementers with diverse product offerings.”
