Nero settles patent fight with MPEG LA
updated 03:05 pm EDT, Thu April 12, 2012
Nero, MPEG LA, settle loyalty fight out of court
Disc burning software developer Nero and the MPEG LA licensing group have finally settled their two year-old legal battle. Nero sued MPEG LA back in May of 2010 for allegedly abusing its monopoly for its video codec patents. The two companies on Thursday revealed that the matter is now resolved, though neither side revealed financial details of the truce.
Nero has become a Licensee in good standing under MPEG LA's MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License, its MPEG-4 Visual Patent Portfolio License, the AVC/H.264 Patent Portfolio License, and the VC-1 Patent Portfolio License.
The case was pending in the Los Angeles Superior Court. In the case, Nero took issue with the demands for millions of dollars in royalties of MPEG LA. Nero distributed trial copies of its software, with each copy subject to a license fee, according to MPEG LA's interpretation. Nero argued that trial software shouldn't be subject to such fees, but simply for sales of the full, unlocked product.
