Justice Department Investigating MPEG-LA For Antitrust Violations Over VP8 Patent Threats

from the monopolies dept

This is quite a surprise. We'd already covered how MPEG-LA, the private company that has set up patent pools around web video, had announced its intention to set up a patent pool focused on the patents that holders believe are infringed upon by Google's VP8/WebM video standard. This definitely seemed like a typical shakedown situation, with one company basically asking a bunch of others to team up to demand a bunch of cash from Google.

What's surprising, however, is that the US Justice Department is apparently jumping into this particular battle, and investigating if MPEG-LA's response violates antitrust law. Apparently, the Justice Department (which is not exactly known as being a Google supporter...) is questioning whether or not this move by MPEG-LA and its members represents an attempt to stifle competition in the marketplace. Of course, the answer seems to be yes, but part of that is the very nature of patents. They are, by definition, a monopoly right. So if they want to stop monopoly abuse from stifling competition, perhaps the government should stop handing out so many monopolies.
Hide this

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

Filed Under: antitrust, patents, video, vp8, web video, webm
Companies: google, mpeg-la


Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread


  1. icon
    Chris Rhodes (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 11:59am

    The Most Amusing Part

    The most amusing part to me, is that patents and copyright are government-granted monopolies, but when companies exploit those monopolies to their fullest extent, they are accused of anti-competitive behavior by the very government who set the system up in the first place.

    Make up your mind, big-government: Do you want to create monopolies or break them up?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. icon
    :Lobo Santo (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:01pm

    Re: The Most Amusing Part

    One of the requirements for being part of a regulatory entity is the ability to believe completely in entirely contradictory/illogical/impossible things.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. icon
    Zauber Paracelsus (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:05pm

    Re: Re: The Most Amusing Part

    Just like a time-travel story arc in Bob & George!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  4. identicon
    coldbrew, 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:23pm

    You have it wrong

    Competition obviously means only having h.264 for the video tag. One option in the marketplace is all you need to satisfy the free market. Just vote red or blue, and those are the only options you need. You communists need to be quiet because you are oppressing people with all your choices.

    Douche or turd, otherwise you are a terrorist.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. icon
    Chris Rhodes (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:24pm

    Re: Re: The Most Amusing Part

    Another one of my favorites: The people charged with cracking down on the free distribution of music and movies online (with the argument that file-sharing disincentivizes the creation of more) are the same people charged with cracking down on child pornography online (with the argument that file-sharing incentivizes the creation of more).

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:28pm

    Next up: Intellectual Ventures?

    link to this | view in thread ]

  7. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:52pm

    Google stole VP8 from the ON2 shareholders... They're whining to the Govt (BTW, Google pretty much is run by the Govt, CIA/NSA... Look it up.)...nd now the Govt is unfairly applying pressure to the competitors.

    Seems like a bunch of crooks all around!

    Do no Evil? Right...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  8. icon
    DH's Love Child (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:59pm

    Re:

    We can only hope...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  9. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:13pm

    Re:

    [Citation Needed]^3

    link to this | view in thread ]

  10. icon
    Berenerd (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:14pm

    Re:

    Seriously...share the crack you have under that tin foil hat...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  11. icon
    Qritiqal (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:15pm

    Re: The Most Amusing Part

    Logical government is logical.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  12. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:35pm

    Re: Re:

    link to this | view in thread ]

  13. icon
    Richard (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:55pm

    Re: The Most Amusing Part

    Even though the patent monopolies may be individually legal it can still be an anti-trust issue to use (or especially to threaten to use) them in certain ways.

    Individual patents may be fine but co-ordinated action by patent holders to rig the market is not.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  14. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 2:02pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    First source is Alex Jones' absurd conspiracy blog and one ex-FBI agent.

    Second source, Egypt has nothing to do with your silly claims.

    Third source shows nothing more than...Google getting government contracts (plenty of companies do) and CW whining about Google accidentally collecting data that people were broadcasting to anyone who wanted to collect it.

    Fourth source...Google bought a company. Exciting.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  15. icon
    Richard (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 2:08pm

    Re: Re: Re:

    Naked shorting drove ON2 stock down and Google stole them:

    Nice conspiracy theory - but it doesn't work!

    No way could Google avoid paying full value for ON2 by short selling - because that process itself would have cost them more. It looks to me (from the link that you posted) like ON2 had a stock bubble and a lot of foolish investors overpaid for the shares and are now whinging about it.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  16. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 2:23pm

    Re:

    Oh yes. Be afraid. Be very afraid:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSAKEY

    http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/NSA-helps-A pple-Sun-and-Red-Hat-harden-their-systems-863889.html

    (I dunno what any of his means. I just started writing "* nsa" on google, and this stuff came out...by the looks of it, NSA own pretty much every computer on Earth. Good thing I'm writing this of a hacked calculator, deep in my secret underground bunker just outside Madrid)

    link to this | view in thread ]

  17. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 2:31pm

    this is just hollywood looking to cheapen its costs

    all the better to rip you all off my dears

    link to this | view in thread ]

  18. icon
    Richard (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 2:34pm

    Re: Re: Re: The Most Amusing Part

    You "stole" that idea from me. (I've made the same point a couple of time before in the comments here).

    It's great to see someone else who thinks the same way!

    Our Lords and masters totally lack consistency of thought.

    Another similar point.

    In Iraq the lack of civil rights was worth a military intervention that cost many lives.

    In the West the mere threat of terrorists killing a single individual means that we have to give up our civil rights...

    Does not compute!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  19. icon
    Mike42 (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 3:27pm

    Re: Re: Re: Re:

    Oh, nice. Now what am I supposed to do with my tin-foil hat? Wrap a chicken in it for a succulent, oven-roasted mid-day snack?

    OK, you talked me into it...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  20. identicon
    Ronald J Riley, 4 Mar 2011 @ 3:45pm

    Equal Treatment

    Companies for patent pools to get IP rights on the cheap so it seems that it should be perfectly acceptable to form patent pools to enhance profits by lowering transactional costs of licensing. If Justice is going to prohibit inventors from pooling patents they should also stop industry groups from doing the same.

    Ronald J. Riley,

    President - www.PIAUSA.org - RJR at PIAUSA.org

    Other Affiliations:
    Executive Director - www.InventorEd.org - RJR at InvEd.org
    Senior Fellow - www.PatentPolicy.org
    President - Alliance for American Innovation
    Caretaker of Intellectual Property Creators on behalf of deceased founder Paul Heckel
    Washington, DC
    Direct (202) 318-1595 - 9 am to 9 pm EST.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  21. identicon
    staff, 4 Mar 2011 @ 5:15pm

    hook or crook

    "monopolies"

    From the days of the founding of the US patents were granted to inventors giving them exclusive rights to their inventions for a limited time. Those "monopolies" as you say have an end. Those seized by large multinational corporations by hook or crook have no term and no boundaries. Their predatory practices shape the worst type of monopolies even corrupting governments through campaign contributions and other forms of graft. Some, even corrupt the press or those who pretend to be.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  22. icon
    Not an Electronic Rodent (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 5:46pm

    Re: Equal Treatment

    If Justice is going to prohibit inventors from pooling patents they should also stop industry groups from doing the same.
    Oh, if wishing made it so.....

    link to this | view in thread ]

  23. identicon
    Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 4 Mar 2011 @ 8:57pm

    Re: Equal Treatment

    Ronald J Riley claimed:

    Companies for patent pools to get IP rights on the cheap ...

    But isn’t that cheapening of IP rights removing the incentive to invent in the first place? That is, if you assume that patents are indeed an incentive to invent.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  24. icon
    Chris Rhodes (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 10:35pm

    Re: Re: The Most Amusing Part

    Individual patents already "rig the market". That was my point, really.

    link to this | view in thread ]


Follow Techdirt
Essential Reading
Techdirt Deals
Report this ad  |  Hide Techdirt ads
Techdirt Insider Discord

The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...

Loading...
Recent Stories

This site, like most other sites on the web, uses cookies. For more information, see our privacy policy. Got it
Close

Email This

This feature is only available to registered users. Register or sign in to use it.