TCL – a TV manufacturer that works with smart TV OS partners including Roku – is now facing an AVC patent infringement lawsuit from members of MPEG LA.
MPEG LA, a patent pool covering licenses for standards and other technology platforms, said patent owners in its AVC (Advanced Video Coding) patent portfolio license have filed patent enforcement actions in Landgericht Düsseldorf, Germany against TCL Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG and TCT Mobile Germany GmbH for “infringing patents essential to the AVC/H.264 (MPEG-4 Part 10) digital video coding standard used in mobile devices, televisions and other products.”
According to the complaints, TCL offers mobile phone and television products in Germany, which use patent protected AVC methods without licenses with the individual patent holders or a portfolio license that includes these patents offered by MPEG LA. The suits seek monetary damages and injunctions.
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MPEG LA didn’t specify which AVC patent holders are leading the lawsuit. The group’s current group of AVC licensors including Apple, Cisco Systems, Dolby, Fraunhofer, Google, LG, Microsoft, Samsung, Sony, Toshiba and ZTE.
MPEG LA’s AVC/H.264 Patent Portfolio License provides access to patent rights for the AVC/H.264 digital video coding standard used in set-top boxes, media player and other personal computer software, mobile devices including phones and mobile television receivers, Blu-ray players and recorders, Blu-ray video optical discs, game machines, personal media player devices, still and video cameras, subscription and pay-per view or title video services, free broadcast television services and other products.