Google, MPEG LA agree to royalty-free terms for VP8 video codec

Google and MPEG LA have announced that they have come to an agreement over Google’s VP8 video codec. 11 patent holders have agreed that any patented techniques used by VP8 can be used without payment of a royalty, forever.

In 2010, Google bought On2, a company that developed video compression algorithms. Shortly after the purchase, Google offered On2’s VP8 algorithm on a perpetually royalty-free basis, so that it could be readily used in open source projects.

MPEG LA sells licenses to various patented technologies. Video compression algorithms such as the widely used H.264 are usually covered by multiple patents held by multiple companies. MPEG LA works with these patent holders to pool them together and provide simple license agreements that cover the range of patents so that the algorithms can be licensed without having to negotiate with each company individually.

Soon after Google’s decision to open source VP8, MPEG LA announced that it intended to form a patent pool of companies with patents relevant to VP8. In 2011, it announced that 12 companies had identified patents that covered aspects of the VP8 algorithm. Google, however, maintained that it owned all the relevant patents. Since that 2011 announcement, there has been little word from either company about the patent pool situation.

This agreement changes that. Google now has rights to any patents from the 11 companies party to the agreement that might cover VP8. Google can sublicense those patents, meaning that hardware and software companies are free to use the technology too. The agreement also covers any codecs derived from VP8, including the VP9 codec that’s currently in development. MPEG LA will also end the patent pool creation process for VP8.

For its part, Google is still maintaining that it owns all the relevant patents to VP8. When asked if any money had changed hands, the online advertising company told us that it was a commercial agreement, but it couldn’t go into any detail about the terms.

The list of 11 companies is currently not public, and it’s not certain at this stage why MPEG LA initially said that 12 companies had relevant patents but only 11 are involved in the agreement.

This is good, albeit belated, news for VP8. It means that the codec’s patent situation is at least as clear as that of H.264. In theory, some patent holder could still emerge from the woodwork and start suing, but neither agreements nor patent pools can preclude that option.

The news may come too late for VP8 to see widespread adoption as an Internet video codec. Although this was Google’s original intent, with the company at one time promising to remove H.264 support from its Chrome browser, H.264’s entrenchment within the video industry appears to have won out. Chrome still includes H.264 support (in addition to VP8), and even Firefox is imminently adding support for the codec.

However, VP8 or its successors could still find a place in other specs such as the WebRTC specification for browser-based audio/video communication. With a patent situation far clearer than it was in the past (if not quite crystal clear), it should be easier to mandate VP8 support in WebRTC and similar specifications.