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

from the monopolies dept

Fri, Mar 4th 2011 11:43am — Mike Masnick

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.

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

24 Comments

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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?
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- :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.
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  - Zauber Paracelsus (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:05pm
    
    Re: Re: The Most Amusing Part
    Just like a time-travel story arc in Bob & George!
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  - 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).
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    - 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!
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- Qritiqal (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:15pm
  
  Re: The Most Amusing Part
  Logical government is logical.
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- 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.
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  - 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.
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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.
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Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:28pm

Next up: Intellectual Ventures?
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- DH's Love Child (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 12:59pm
  
  Re:
  We can only hope...
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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...
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- Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:13pm
  
  Re:
  [Citation Needed]^3
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  - Anonymous Coward, 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:35pm
    
    Re: Re:
    Google and CIA:
    http://www.topix.com/forum/world/china/TV2INCQB9NLA1T61G
    
    Google and Egypt
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-12400128
    
    Google and NSA
    http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/watchdog-group-questions-googles-relationship
    
    BUT a SMALL FEW...
    
    Naked shorting drove ON2 stock down and Google stole them:
    http://seekingalpha.com/article/154987-google-on2-deal-insights
    Class action lawsuits are still pending.
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    - 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.
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      - 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...
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    - 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.
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- Berenerd (profile), 4 Mar 2011 @ 1:14pm
  
  Re:
  Seriously...share the crack you have under that tin foil hat...
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- 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)
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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
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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.
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- 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.....
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- 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.
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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.
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