Onward!

Giddy up!

Exciting things are happening with codec development here at the WebM Project. Of particular note is our recent announcement of an agreement with MPEG LA and eleven patent holders for a royalty-free license in support of VP8.

Now that the distractions of the MPEG LA licensing initiative are behind us, it's a good time to review recent improvements with VP8 and take stock of VP8 adoption and proliferation. In the coming weeks, we'll be posting a series of updates on this blog about important developments around the VP8 codec, as well as our plans for VP9.

But first, we’d like to clarify a few things about the MPEG LA agreement. While most observers quickly understood the nature of the agreement, a handful of bloggers have mischaracterized it. Let’s set the record straight.

We entered into the agreement for two reasons:

• to dispel the cloud cast by MPEG LA's announcement of efforts to form a pool around VP8;
• to build the strongest possible IP foundation under VP8 and VP9.

We realize that dramatic headlines attract readers, but despite some of the speculation, there was never any lawsuit, and there was certainly no "finding" or "admission" of infringement.

Understandably, we’ve had to keep quiet while the MPEG LA talks were in progress. Now that it’s settled, we will redouble our efforts to engage directly with the WebM community and open web platform developers around the world.

So stay tuned for more news!

John Luther is Product Manager of the WebM project.
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