Royalty for H.264 compression

[sivaramanradhak]

Hi NXP,

We need to know whether NXP would require royalty for H.264 codec inclusion in iMX6 multimedia processor.

Please reply on this.

Thanks,

Siva 

[gusarambula]

Hello Sivaraman Radhakrishnan,

The Standard Distribution of codecs is distributed along the BSP Release trough NXP.com where you must accept click-thru license agreement prior to download. However, you may need to obtain additional licensing or other rights (e.g. MPEG LA, Via). NXP does not charge a license fee or royalty.

NXP is legally unable to provide guidance on when, where and how to obtain licenses as these are done by 3rd parties with varying and (sometimes) changing terms.

I would suggest you contact the owner of the specific codec you wish to use (as even H.264 has some variants) for information regarding royalties.

My apologies for the inconvenience!

Regards,

[janekschumann]

When I download from NXP.com, in what way is the H.264 codec covered / addressed by the click-thru license agreement?

I think the question is with regards to the hardware encoder / decoder in NXP processors. If I just use hardware tools build into you products, is the royalty fee for patents of the H.264 codecs covered by NXP or do I have to get a license from MPEG LA?

If we are talking about software codecs then it is much clearer:

Take the binary version from Cisco and be done with it or do open-source and get a license. (which is free of charge anyway if you are not mass-producing)

But what about the hardware codecs? They are neither. So how are they covered?

[gusarambula]

Hello Janek Shumann,

The HW codec is covered as part of the device. However, it would cover only the bare H.264 HW codec. If you use MPEG for example you would still need a license as it goes beyond the pure H.264 HW codec even tough it uses it along the way.

I hope this helps!

Regards,

[bpatil]

Hi!

Does NXP provide any document or already it is mentioned in any document that  H.264 HW codec license is  covered as part of the device and user doesn't have to pay royalty to any party? 

[janekschumann]

Thank you for clarifying. Your time is much appreciated.

That makes it clearer for me.

Cheers

Janek