Leading Companies and University Sue Alba for MPEG-2 Patent Infringement

DENVER — MPEG LA, LLC, world leader in alternative one-stop patent licenses, today announced that several leading companies and a university have filed separate patent enforcement actions in District Court Dusseldorf, Germany against Alba plc (“Alba”) for infringing patents essential to the MPEG-2 digital video compression standard used worldwide in digital television broadcasting and DVD.

“We have offered Alba a license for many years, but regrettably they have refused,” said MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn. “We join those patent owners whose technologies Alba is using without benefit of license and those companies who are licensed and paying their fair share of royalties in the hope that these actions finally will get their attention.”

Included among the plaintiffs are: CIF Licensing, LLC; The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York; GE Technology Development, Inc.; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Denki K.K.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics, N.V.; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Sony Corporation; Thomson Licensing S.A.; and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.

According to the complaints, Alba offers in Germany products such as digital televisions, DVD players and set-top boxes that use patent protected MPEG-2 methods without having entered into licenses with the individual patent holders or a portfolio license that includes these patents offered by MPEG LA.

The suit seeks, among other things, monetary damages and an injunction prohibiting Alba from using MPEG-2 patents in its products and from offering, marketing, or importing them.