Access Advance Announces Newest VVC Advance Licensors and Licensees

Also Extends Early Licensor Signing Incentive through December 31, 2023

BOSTON – October 16, 2023 – Access Advance today announced that ByteDance, Tencent, NTT, and NTT Docomo, all significant VVC patent owners, have joined the VVC Advance Patent Pool as Licensors. These additions bring the total number of Licensors to thirty-eight (38), estimated to represent ~45-50% of all VVC world-wide standard essential patents. Access Advance further announced that Alibaba, Kuaishou, ByteDance, and Tencent have joined the VVC Advance Patent Pool as Licensees.

Also announced was the reinstatement and extension of the bonus patent point incentive program for any VVC standard essential patent (SEP) patent owner that joins on or before December 31, 2023. Prospective VVC SEP patent owners may also lock-in the patent point incentive program by executing a Letter of Agreement that they will become a VVC Advance Licensor promptly after issuance or acquisition of their first VVC SEP.

According to Pete Moller, CEO of Access Advance, “We are extremely pleased to welcome these important new Licensors and Licensees to our VVC program. Each is an important company that can help drive adoption of VVC, with all the benefits this new video technology brings to consumers. We are also pleased that our VVC Licensors have given us the opportunity to extend the bonus patent point incentive through year-end. The incentive lasts for the life of the patents and is transferable with the patents. The extra revenue this incentive represents over the life of a patent will be significant. We hope that other patent owners will take advantage of this opportunity.”

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 H.265/HEVC technology, and the separate and independent VVC Advance Patent Pool for licensing essential patents to VVC/H.266 technology. 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.