Subject: [video-codec] Response to LS on call for comments on an IETF WG on Internet Video Codec (netvc)

From: Alissa Cooper <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 11:40:01 -0700

Dear ITU-T SG 16,

We are writing in response to the liaison statement received from ITU-T SG 16 requesting clarification about the goals the proposed Internet Video Codec (NETVC) working group. The NETVC charter uses the word “competitive” in the sense of being “comparable" and "commercially interesting."  That is, the goal of the working group is to produce a video codec that will need to have comparable quality and efficiency as well as have IPR licensing terms make it that commercially interesting to deploy widely at the time when the NETVC work is finalized.

As the liaison statement notes, there are many concurrent ongoing efforts to develop video codecs, and the NETVC work would merely be one additional such effort. We do not view the proposed NETVC work as harmful for interoperability, but rather as helpful, considering the fact that at present the licensing environment creates barriers to full interoperability in many cases. One key distinction of the NETVC work is a differentiation between 'licensing terms that would enable broad use,' which is a subjective distinction, and 'royalty-free licensing terms,' which is a factual one. The combination of this goal with the goal of achieving quality on par with modern, state-of-the-art codecs is what makes NETVC distinctive.

Regards,
Alissa Cooper, IETF RAI area director 
on behalf of the IESG