As [itvt] was going to press, Multimedia Home Platform (MHP) patent pool administrator, Via Licensing, released a document entitled "Final MHP License Fees," which sets out the fees that device manufacturers, service providers and broadcasters will need to pay in order to use the MHP specification to deliver interactive TV services. A copy of the fee schedule is available at http://tinyurl.com/f2twn. We plan to cover this development in more depth in a future issue.
In related news: the DVB Project has issued a renewed call for declarations of intellectual property rights (IPR) that might be essential to MHP: patent owners and other companies and individuals who believe their IP might be used by the MHP spec--or third parties who are aware of such IPR--are being encouraged to contact the DVB Project directly. The DVB says that it is currently reviewing the MHP spec and the licensing terms offered by rights holders, and that the declarations submitted in response to the renewed call will be important for this review. The organization says that information gathered as a result of the renewed call may be used in making choices among technologies for MHP.
The DVB made its first call for declarations of MHP IPR in 2003: the declarations it received served as a starting point for the MHP patent pool/licensing program. The organization now concedes that "the terms proposed by this pool for licensing essential intellectual property rights have disquieted many DVB members" (see, for example, Anthony Smith-Chaigneau's open letter in [itvt] Issue 6.60), and says that this "disquiet has in part prompted this renewed call for declarations." Declarations can be made to mhpdeclaration@dvb.org, and additional information can also be retrieved by emailing that address. The DVB says that evaluations of initial submissions will be made on September 8th.
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