Via Licensing and MPEG LA unite to form Via Licensing Alliance patent pool

Via Licensing and MPEG LA have joined forces to launch a new patent pool, Via Licensing Alliance (Via LA), which will consolidate a large portfolio of patents and IP licensing programmes, as well as the pools already existing under the umbrella of each brand. However, according to JUVE Patent sources, both companies remain independent operators in the video coding and audio licensing fields, respectively.

According to Via LA, General Electric, Koninklijke Philips, and Mitsubishi Electric will convert their former partial ownership in MPEG LA to current partial ownership in Via LA. As a result, the patent pool has appointed three new members to its board of directors: Patrick Patnode, president of GE Licensing; Jako Eleveld, VP and head of IP licensing at Koninklijke Philips; and Keiko Higuchi, senior manager and head of patent pools in the corporate licensing division of Mitsubishi Electric Corporation.

Via Licensing Alliance changes president

Personnel change is also afoot. Current Via LA president Heath Hoglund was the former head of legal for Via Licensing and Dolby. In his new position, he is president of both Via Licensing and MPEG LA. The company has also announced that Larry Horn is retiring as CEO of MPEG LA, but will continue to serve as a Via LA advisor.

Heath Hoglund, president, Via LA, says, “Via LA combines the best capabilities in the licensing industry to deliver efficient, transparent, and balanced intellectual property solutions to thousands of partners around the world.

This pool of pools provides an efficient mechanism for innovators with broad portfolios to get their technologies to the mass market and enables easy access to a broad range of necessary IP for implementers with diverse product offerings.”

Pools active in Europe

In recent years, MPEG LA has been active in litigation in Europe, most notably in Germany. It has repeatedly persuaded implementers such as Huawei, TCL and ZTE to conclude a licence agreement by filing lawsuits in Düsseldorf.

Furthermore, in April 2022, the patent pool itself filed a lawsuit against former pool member Samsung at the Regional Court Düsseldorf for infringing HEVC patents. According to JUVE Patent information, this marked the first time a patent pool has filed suit against a former pool member.

Despite the merger, however, MPEG LA remains independent, retaining its responsibilities for video coding under the new brand name. MPEG LA is responsible for video coding, Via Licensing is responsible for audio coding. Future litigation involving both the patent pools is likely, especially in locations such as Germany where courts have heard multiple suits in recent years. Lawyers from the Düsseldorf office of Krieger Mes Graf von der Groeben and patent attorneys from Cohausz & Florack are the pool’s regular advisors in these disputes.

Ups and downs

In the past, Via Licensing has litigated against companies such as TCL and Archos in Germany. However, in April 2023 Via Licensing announced that TCL has secured a licence to its Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) patent pool, thus concluding the dispute. Eisenführ Speiser had represented Via Licensing in this litigation.

A few months earlier, in February 2023, electronics manufacturer Oppo also became a licensee of the same patent pool. The global agreement encompasses smartphones, which is one of the Chinese company’s key sources of revenue. However, in May last year, Via Licensing announced the dissolution of its wireless patent pools. This left Sisvel as the only pool for wireless SEPs for mobile devices, meaning several former Via Licensing members moved over.