Vectis IP Launches Patent Pool for the Opus Codec

London, UK, January 16, 2023: Today, UK-based IP and technology licensing company Vectis IP announced the launch of a patent pool for patents essential to the Opus codec. The patent pool license covers the Opus interactive speech and audio codec, as defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force. This announcement follows an earlier call for patents on September 15, 2022, by Vectis IP, which introduced initial participants Fraunhofer and Dolby. The Opus program will focus on hardware devices and will not be directed towards stand-alone software, applications, services, or content.

“We are excited to officially launch the Opus Codec patent pool and offer efficient, fair, and transparent access to hundreds of patents,” said Giustino de Sanctis, CEO of Vectis IP. “The license terms have been set to balance the interests of both the implementers and the program’s innovators and we are confident that the full waiver of past royalties for willing licensees, the reasonable royalty rates, and the incentives for early adopters will be well received by end-user device manufacturers.”

The program will initially include access to more than 300 patents from 17 families but we expect to aggregate more over time. Willing licensees will benefit from a royalty rate of €15c per unit starting from program launch and an annual cap of €15 million. Early licensees will receive a further 33% discount with royalty rates of €10c per unit and an annual cap of €10 million.

Vectis IP continues to welcome other innovators with patents essential to Opus to join the pool. “With audio pioneers Fraunhofer and Dolby anchoring the pool, our call for patents has elicited a strong interest from the market with additional patent owners now in discussions to join,” said Mr. de Sanctis in a further statement.

Vectis invites any patent owner with patents relevant to Opus to submit applications for consideration in the program to [email protected].

About Vectis IP Ltd:

Vectis IP is a UK-based IP and technology licensing company. Vectis IP supports a level playing field for IP owners and implementers and is dedicated to finding collaborative and balanced licensing solutions. With a global reach, its seasoned management team has led the formation and management of many patent pools and programs in Telecommunications and Consumer Electronics. In addition to developing a patent pool for Opus, Vectis IP is currently working on programs covering imaging, video, communications, e-commerce, and networking technologies.

Contact: Vectis IP Ltd, Sandro Spina, Director of Licensing, +44-7899354712, [email protected]