Google found an agreement with the MPEG-LA on the VP8 codec

Google has reached an agreement with the group of industrialists MPEG-LA on the VP8 video codec : this will further disseminate the codec used in WebM multimedia format for Google.

 End of a war. In 2010, Google bought back the VP8 video codec that was later used in an open format WebM. MPEG-LA did not appreciate the likely plan to widely disseminate its Google free codec, while the group is also the one who dismisses the competing technology H.264.

With VP8, Google would therefore create a high quality format for video on the Web and especially free use. But in 2011, the MPEG-LA had denied that VP8 is free of patents: he then filed a lawsuit against Google arguing that the codec may violate the intellectual property of its own product, the H.264.

Today, H.264 is widely used in Blu-Ray, video cameras, etc.. But in the future, this could change as the agreement between the two parties stipulates that Google can now market licenses for the VP8 codec, but also for VP9, which is already under development. In addition, the MPEG-LA abandons his plans to create a range of patents on VP8.

"This is a major advance for the Google project is to broadcast a maximum VP8 on the Web," stated Allen Lo, General Counsel Patent Google. Recall that the WebM thus includes the VP8 video codec, but also the rights of free audio Vorbis.