Patent Pools Claiming Royalties on AV1 Codec

Although the AV1 video codec was developed by the Alliance for Open Media (AOMedia) as an open-source, royalty-free standard, several third-party patent holders have challenged this status by demanding licensing fees. This article examines the primary patent licensing pools, notably Sisvel, that assert essential patents against AV1 implementations, the licensing terms they impose on device manufacturers, and how these claims impact the broader adoption of the codec.

The Royalty-Free Promise vs. Third-Party Claims

AOMedia—backed by tech giants including Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Meta, and Netflix—engineered AV1 to eliminate the complex and expensive patent royalties associated with legacy standards like HEVC (H.265). AOMedia members grant royalty-free cross-licenses to one another and offer a defense program for users.

However, patent owners outside of AOMedia are not bound by this agreement. These outside entities argue that AV1 unavoidably relies on their patented technologies and have formed pools to collect royalties from companies distributing AV1-compliant hardware and software.

Sisvel's AV1 Patent Pool

Sisvel International is the primary and most prominent patent pool administrator actively demanding royalties on AV1 implementations.

Launched in early 2019 and expanded in 2020, Sisvel's Video Coding Licensing Platform includes an aggregate pool specifically targeting the AV1 specification (alongside a related pool for the VP9 codec).

• Patent Owners: Sisvel represents a consortium of major telecommunications and electronics companies. Key licensors within the pool include Dolby, Philips, Toshiba, GE, JVCKenwood, NTT Docomo, SK Telecom, and Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI).
• Licensing Scope and Targets: Sisvel primarily targets hardware implementers. Royalties are sought on consumer display devices (such as smart TVs and computer monitors) and non-display devices (such as smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes, and personal computers) that encode or decode AV1 video.
• Royalty Rates: Sisvel charges a flat fee per unit sold. Rates typically range between €0.15 to €0.32 per unit for non-display devices and €0.35 to €0.65 per unit for display devices, depending on whether the licensee qualifies for compliant rate incentives. Sisvel currently does not levy royalties on AV1-encoded content distribution itself, focusing instead on hardware implementations.

MPEG LA and Via Licensing Alliance

Historically, MPEG LA (which later merged with Via Licensing to form Via LA) served as a major pool administrator for competing standards like AVC (H.264) and HEVC (H.265).

In 2019, MPEG LA announced a "call for patents" to determine if there was third-party interest in forming a rival AV1 patent pool. While this initiative indicated that other patent aggregation entities were actively investigating AV1 for patent exposure, MPEG LA never formally launched an active, competing commercial licensing pool for AV1 to rival Sisvel's. Instead, Sisvel established itself as the unified licensing platform for non-AOMedia patent holders seeking AV1 compensation.

Industry Pushback and Legal Defense

The royalty demands imposed by Sisvel have faced significant resistance from the open-source community and AOMedia. AOMedia maintains a patent defense fund to protect its members and end-users against patent infringement lawsuits.

Additionally, organizations like Unified Patents have actively intervened by filing challenges with patent offices worldwide to invalidate specific patents asserted in Sisvel's AV1 and VP9 pools, successfully narrowing or revoking several claims. Despite these legal challenges, Sisvel continues to recruit patent holders and assert that full implementation of the AV1 specification requires licensing their pool.