royalty

Google Renews Firefox Search Royalty Deal

Liz Gannes in News on December 20, 2011 at 10:49 am PT

Mozilla is about to announce that it has signed a new three-year agreement for Google to be the default search option in its Firefox browser.

Pandora Files to Raise $100 Million in IPO

Tricia Duryee in Commerce on February 11, 2011 at 2:49 pm PT

Let the floodgates open. First it was LinkedIn, and now it is the music-streaming service Pandora that has filed for an initial public offering.

MPEG LA Coming After Google's VP8 Video Codec

John Paczkowski in News on February 11, 2011 at 11:20 am PT

Is Google’s VP8 video codec free from patent liability? We’re about to find out. MPEG LA, the consortium that controls the AVC/H.264 video standard, issued a call for patents thought to be essential to VP8 today, a first step in the creation of a patent pool for the specification.

Nokia’s Microsoft Partnership: Does the New Strategy Add Up?

Ina Fried in Mobile on February 11, 2011 at 4:02 am PT

Nokia has already announced the key piece of its strategy–a shift to Windows Phone for its future smartphones. Now the company is set to talk about the financial implications of that and go through the rest of its strategy, which includes a mix of Symbian and even a dash of MeeGo. Mobilized has live coverage of the event, which started at around 4 am PT, or noon here in London.

Codec Capers: Google Drops H.264 Support in Chrome

John Paczkowski in News on January 11, 2011 at 3:42 pm PT

Here’s one way to spur adoption of your new video codec. End your browser’s support for a widely used rival codec. That’s what Google did today, announcing that its Chrome browser will ship without native support for H.264.

Sony Decides It Doesn’t Want to Be Left Out of Cellphone Patent Fight

Ina Fried in Mobile on December 29, 2010 at 9:53 pm PT

Sony has filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission against Korean rival LG, alleging patent infringement. It’s the latest legal challenge in an epidemic of cellphone-related patent disputes.

Microsoft’s Plan B to Make Money in Phones: Patents

Ina Fried in Mobile on November 29, 2010 at 9:37 pm PT

Although Microsoft is still hoping that Windows Phone 7 proves to be a hit, the company doesn’t see its success as the only way to make a profit. Top lawyer Brad Smith said tonight that Redmond’s vast patent portfolio related to smartphones could provide another revenue stream to help recoup the company’s massive investment in mobile technology.

Google’s “Royalty-Free” WebM Video May Not Be Royalty-Free for Long

John Paczkowski in News on May 20, 2010 at 3:45 pm PT

The announcement of Google’s new WebM video format and release of the VP8 video codec as an open standard have been hailed by some as the move that will free the Web from the proprietary H.264 codec widely used for online video today. That seems ideal. But like many ideals, it may prove to be unattainable, particularly now that video standards group MPEG LA is mulling a patent pool for VP8.

Google Open Sources VP8 Video Codec. Will Apple, Microsoft and Intel Use It?

John Paczkowski in News on May 19, 2010 at 10:36 am PT

Google’s plan to open-source the VP8 video codec has been rumored ever since the company acquired its developer, On2, in August 2009. After all, in the press release detailing the acquisition, Google clearly stated that “video compression technology should be a part of the Web platform.” So it’s no surprise that the company announced an open-source, royalty-free video format based on VP8 at its I/O conference Wednesday. What is surprising is the level of industry support Google has already rounded up for it.