Access Advance (“Advance”) today announced that HEVC Advance Patent Pool Licensors have filed patent infringement proceedings against Roku, Inc. (“Roku”) for infringing patents essential to the HEVC/H.265 digital video coding standard (“HEVC”). According to the complaints, Roku offers video streaming devices which incorporate HEVC technology.

Despite long-term efforts by Advance to resolve patent infringements in good faith, Roku remains unwilling to voluntarily legalize its sales of HEVC capable products. In response, Advance Licensors have chosen to begin enforcement actions to facilitate a level playing field for the pool’s existing Licensees. As part of their infringement suits, the pool Licensors are seeking payment of past royalties from Roku and an injunction against continuing infringement.

This news follows actions taken earlier this year in which Advance Licensors filed patent infringement proceedings against HP Inc. and ASUSTeK Computer Inc. for also infringing patents essential to the HEVC digital video coding standard.

The HEVC Advance Patent Pool provides fair and reasonable rates for use of patents essential to the HEVC Standard, including HEVC decoders and HEVC encoders for streaming on mobile and other connected devices, 4K televisions, and digital storage devices. Beginning in 2015, the pool has grown to 43 Licensors and over 23,000 patents, representing approximately 75-80% of all available HEVC-essential patents. The pool has attracted over 320 Licensees, including industry leaders such as Dell, Google, LG, Microsoft, OPPO, Huawei, Panasonic, Sony, and Lenovo.

Access Advance Patent Pools exist to promote innovation and reduce licensing costs and litigation by allowing companies to obtain licenses to the essential patents of multiple Licensors through a single agreement. By making essential technologies widely and efficiently accessible, patent pools also allow for more industry-wide standardization, benefiting consumers through increased interoperability of devices. Access Advance’s Licensors take legal action only as a last resort to ensure fair competition in the marketplace.

About Access Advance:

Access Advance LLC is an independent licensing administrator company formed to lead the development, administration, and management of patent pools for licensing essential patents of the most important standards-based video codec technologies. Access Advance provides a transparent and efficient licensing mechanism for both patent owners and patent implementers. Access Advance currently manages and administers the HEVC Advance Patent Pool for licensing patents essential to HEVC/H.265 standard, and the separate and independent VVC Advance Patent Pool for licensing essential patents to VVC/H.266 standard. The HEVC Advance Patent Pool and the VVC Advance Patent Pool are elements of the Access Advance Video Codec Platform Initiative that seamlessly incorporates HEVC and VVC technologies into a single discounted royalty rate structure through the Multi-Codec Bridging Agreement for eligible Licensees whose products include both HEVC and VVC codecs. This innovation responds to the market’s desire for an even more efficient next-generation pool licensing structure. For more information, please visit www.accessadvance.com.

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