MPEG LA Extends Call for Initial Submission of Essential H.264/MPEG-4 AVC Patents; Initial Submissions Now Requested By April 4, 2003.

Business Editors, Technology Writers

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 24, 2003

MPEG LA, LLC today announced that it has extended until April 4, 2003, the initial period during which patent holders who believe they own patents that are essential to the proposed JVT/AVC Standard may submit them for an evaluation of essentiality by independent patent experts for the purpose of forming a joint AVC Patent Portfolio License.

Submissions have already been received from many parties. The initial patent submission period has been extended in light of the fact that the AVC Final Draft International Standard (FDIS) is not expected to be issued until March 10-14, 2003 (the dates of the next JVT meeting). This extension will make it possible for additional submitting parties to prepare their patent submissions based on the FDIS. In an effort to move the licensing process forward as expeditiously as possible, MPEG LA first announced an initial call for patent submissions in a news release dated 11 September 2002 (see http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_02-09-11_jvt.html), but subsequently announced a first extension in a news release dated 29 October 2002 (see http://www.mpegla.com/news/n_02-10-29_jvt.html). Patents will be examined for their essentiality to the FDIS, and more information will be provided on that at the appropriate time.

For each patent submitted, an evaluation fee of US $8,500.00 will be paid to MPEG LA, LLC. Submitting parties must confirm their agreement with the terms and procedures governing the patent submission process which may be obtained from Jane Tannenbaum, Director, Contract Administration ([e-mail]).

MPEG LA, LLC

MPEG LA successfully pioneered one-stop technology standards licensing with a portfolio of essential patents for the international digital video compression standard known as MPEG-2, which it began licensing in 1997. One-stop technology standards licensing enables widespread technological implementation, interoperability and use of fundamental broad-based technologies covered by many patents owned by many patent holders. MPEG LA provides users with fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to these essential patents on a worldwide basis under a single license. In addition to MPEG-2, MPEG LA licenses portfolios of essential patents for the IEEE 1394 Standard, the DVB-T Standard and the MPEG-4 Visual Standard and will license a portfolio of essential patents for the MPEG-4 Systems Standard. For more information, please refer to http://www.mpegla.com, http://www.1394la.com and http://www.dvbla.com. MPEG LA is based in Denver, Colorado, USA.