Via Licensing Announces Availability of Joint Patent License for OCAP Specification.SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden -- Via Licensing Corporation is pleased to announce the availability of a worldwide joint license agreement for patents deemed essential to implementing CableLabs(R) OpenCable(TM) Applications Platform 1.0 (OCAP OCAP Ontario Coalition Against Poverty (Canada) OCAP Open Cable Application Platform (middleware software specification) OCAP Out of Control Action Plan (TM)) specifications. The joint OCAP patent license provides a cost-effective process for device manufacturers and service providers to license patents essential to the OCAP specification. The OCAP specification enables device manufacturers and service providers to design products that will run successfully on any cable television system that deploys OCAP services, independent of set-top box The cable TV box that sits on "top" of the TV "set," although it is often located several feet away in an equipment rack. The set-top box descrambles the premium channels and provides a tuner for the higher cable numbers that very old TVs did not support. or television receiver hardware or operating system operating system (OS) Software that controls the operation of a computer, directs the input and output of data, keeps track of files, and controls the processing of computer programs. software. The essential patents addressed in this new license agreement are owned by Comcast, LG Electronics, Inc., Open TV, Panasonic (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.), Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics (SEC, Hangul:삼성전자; KSE: 005930, KSE: 005935, LSE: SMSN, LSE: SMSD) is a South Korean multinational corporation and the world's largest and leading electronics and information technology company. , and Time Warner Cable This article or section needs sources or references that appear in reliable, third-party publications. Alone, primary sources and sources affiliated with the subject of this article are not sufficient for an accurate encyclopedia article. . "OCAP's promise is to dramatically increase the ability of cable companies to create and deploy new interactive services for consumers while ensuring that interactive content will run on different cable systems, set-top boxes, and consumer electronic devices," said Helene Jay, Via Licensing's Director, Business Development in Europe. "Via is excited to be a part of this emerging market and commends all OCAP essential patent holders for their hard work in developing this joint license agreement." Companies that offer OCAP end-user products or subscription-based pay television services that deploy OCAP services should visit www.vialicensing.com to learn more about the terms of the joint patent license and to request a sample agreement for review. The basic license fees are as follows:
Fee Type Price
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Licensed Products $1.50 per device
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Service Providers $0.30 per subscriber per year
(or one-time five-year license for $1.50)
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Joint licensing programs provide the market with a convenient and cost-effective way to obtain licenses to patents essential to the practice of a standard. By doing so, the programs encourage greater adoption of the standard. Without such a joint license, the process of providing and obtaining necessary licenses would be more cumbersome and expensive for all parties. CableLabs published the OCAP specification and defined a generic interface between interactive digital applications and the terminals on which these applications execute. With OCAP services, digital content providers can address all types of OCAP capable terminals including low- to high-end set-top boxes, integrated digital TV sets, and multimedia PCs. About Via Licensing Corporation Via Licensing Corporation develops and administers patent licensing programs on behalf of innovative technology companies and for the convenience of licensees. Via Licensing Corporation is a subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories “Dolby” redirects here. For other uses, see Dolby (disambiguation). Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (Dolby Labs) (NYSE: DLB) is a USA-based company specializing in audio compression and reproduction. , Inc. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :DLB DLB Dementia with Lewy Bodies DLB Dynamic Load Balancing DLB Don't Look Back DLB Digital Lecture Board (University of Mannheim, Germany) DLB Digital Loopback DLB Downline Builder (multi-level marketing) ), and benefits from the expertise, infrastructure, and strategic business relationships that Dolby has developed in more than 35 years of licensing into the consumer electronics and personal computing Refers to users working on their own computers rather than a terminal to a mainframe. Sometimes, the term refers to using computers at home for work and/or entertainment in contrast to business use only. See personal computer. markets. Via Licensing is involved in the development and operation of licensing programs for both mandated and de facto [Latin, In fact.] In fact, in deed, actually. This phrase is used to characterize an officer, a government, a past action, or a state of affairs that must be accepted for all practical purposes, but is illegal or illegitimate. or emerging standards. For more information about Via Licensing Corporation, please visit www.vialicensing.com. Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the benefits of joint licensing programs, the greater adoption of standards through joint licensing programs, the potential for joint licensing programs to reduce the overall cost of obtaining licenses, and the benefits of OCAP capable products and services are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations. The following important factors, without limitation, could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: risks associated with licensing technologies through patent pools; risks associated with licensing industry standards technologies; risks associated with developing proprietary technology in markets in which "open standards Specifications for hardware and software that are developed by a standards organization or a consortium involved in supporting a standard. Available to the public for developing compliant products, open standards imply "open systems;" that an existing component in a system can be replaced " are adopted; market acceptance of OCAP capable devices and services; rapid changes in interactive digital technologies; risks associated with the development of markets for digital programming; and other risks detailed in Dolby's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including its quarterly report on Form 10-Q Form 10-Q See 10-Q. filed with the SEC for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2006. Dolby disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. CableLabs, OCAP, and Open Cable are trademarks of Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. S06/17378 |
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