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VVC Advance Patent Pool: Licensor Terms and Obligations
General Terms
Licensors are members of the Administrative Committee (AdCom) and agree to cooperate in good faith with the Licensing Administrator to enable the Licensing Administrator to carry out its obligations in regard to the VVC Advance pool.
Licensors that make and/or Sell VVC Products which fall within the terms of the VVC Advance Patent Portfolio License (“PPL”) must be Licensees.
Initial Term for Licensors continues until the end of the First Renewal Term of the VVC Advance PPL (i.e., 12/31/2030 for new Licensors). This provides predictability for Licensees and Licensors.
Licensors have obligation, upon request by an implementer, to offer bilateral licenses on reasonable terms, and to negotiate in good faith with the implementer.
Licensors agree to maintain confidentiality of the business discussions of the VVC Advance Patent Pool.
New Licensors are added at the reasonable discretion of the Licensing Administrator.
License Scope and Grant
The PPL grant is to infringed patent claims that are essential to Version 1 of the VVC Standard and/or VSEI Standard:
“VVC Standard” – Version 1 of ISO/IEC 23090-3 MPEG-I Part 3 and ITU-T Recommendation H.266
“VSEI Standard” – Version 1 of ISO/IEC 23002-7 MPEG-C Part 7 and ITU-T Recommendation H.274
Amendments (i.e., new Versions or Profiles) to the definition of the VVC Standard and the VSEI Standard, and therefore to the scope of the PPL license grant, are approved upon Licensing Administrator’s recommendation unless vetoed by the AdCom.
Licensors grant the Licensing Administrator a non-exclusive license to all their essential VVC/VSEI patent claims they have the right to license, with the right to grant sublicenses under the VVC Advance PPL.
Patent Evaluations
Licensors and potential Licensors must submit their VVC patents and their VSEI patents to our independent Patent Evaluators to determine whether they include at least one claim that is essential to the VVC Standard or the VSEI Standard.
When the Patent Evaluators determine a patent of a Licensor is a VVC Standard or VSEI Standard Essential Patent (“SEP”), it is added to the VVC Advance Patent List.
Points are assigned to VVC and VESI SEPs on the patent list; the assignment of Points is subject to limits on how many Points any patent family (with a common priority application) can accrue.