Collecting royalty payments for patent licenses can be daunting. Just ask Robert Faber, holder of U.S. Patent 53355013 for 24p acquisition, issued on August 2nd, 1994.
Canon U.S.A./Japan is the latest camera manufacturer to sign a license agreement from 24P, LLC for technology patents covering image capture at 24 progressive frames per second (24p) to give the appearance of film origination.
Grass Valley (Thomson), Sony and Matsushita (Panasonic) have all taken licenses from Filmlook Inc./24P, LLC for their 24p progressive frame cameras. The company, owned by Faber, is currently negotiating with Arriflex and Ikegami, Faber said, and other licensing agreements are being aggressively pursued. 24P, LLC is the assignee of the Faber patent.
The patent in question describes "a method and an apparatus for rendering a video camera image to provide the appearance of a motion picture film recorded image to be output directly for television broadcast or recording on video tape."
Although the actual terms of individual agreements are confidential, the licensing fee structure varies with each manufacturer. For example, Thomson pays a royalty each quarter (a percentage of net sales of 24p-capable cameras). Other companies have "fully paid" a one-time license fee which entitles them to manufacture and sell as many 24p cameras as they want for life.
Licensing fees can be based on many things (how many cameras are they likely to sell, the cost of each unit, etc.). Faber said negotiations often can be drawn out. "Big companies are in no rush to write license fee checks to little companies and, if they need to, they can easily outspend little companies anytime if they decide to get into litigation — sort of a David and Goliath relationship," Faber said. "David better be very credible if he's going to win."
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