Context: In December, Huawei joined Via LA’s Enhanced Voice Services and Immersive Voice and Audio Services voice codec program (December 10, 2024 ip fray article). This came after the company had already been an active member of Via LA’s AVC video codec program. Huawei’s increased membership in these pools is part of Via LA’s wider efforts to expand its presence in Asia, and specifically China. At the time of the Voice Codec pool’s launch, Via LA’s head of programs Willy Chang told ip fray that EVS is basically limited to mobile and the largest mobile makers outside of Apple are now generally in China and Korea. Via LA also recently announced a strategic partnership with ULDAGE, a Japanese patent pool administrator that mainly focuses on digital broadcasting and emerging sectors (like EV charging), to help expand Via LA’s EV Charging patent pool in Japan (February 18, 2025 ip fray article).
What’s new: Today, Huawei has announced it will also be joining Via LA’s HEVC/VVC patent pool as both a VVC licensor and licensee. The announcement comes during Via LA’s Business Summit in Shanghai, which ip fray is attending, this week (February 28, 2025 ip fray article). On the sidelines of the Summit today, Huawei’s IP head Alan Fan said VVC is increasingly being adopted, including by Chinese implementers, so it is more important than ever for licensors to come together to find a solution to help the industry. While VVC has nowhere near the type of market uptake the HEVC one has, Via LA President Heath Hoglund said today that the addition of Huawei’s patents will be specifically important to strengthen the VVC part of the pool.
Direct impact: Mr. Hoglund has previously been very vocal about his key long-term mission of owning a portfolio that consists of several multi-generational programs. One success story he has long cited is the folding-in of newer audio technologies into the original AAC pool and licensing those together as a package. With significant VVC adoption still being some years out, a pool with this structure allows for the success of its HEVC half to continue while allowing the pool administrator to get ahead of the ever-increasing uptake of VVC technology.
Wider ramifications: This move is another example of Via LA’s continued focus on Asia as a market. As noted by Mr. Chang in an earlier interview, China, Japan and South Korea may be Via LA’s “strongest geographies” (December 10, 2024 ip fray article). It also underlines Mr. Hoglund’s views expressed during a recent interview with Eli Mazour, in the Clause 8 podcast, when he said the ticket to entry into any room that discusses ongoing or new Via LA programs is owning relevant IP (March 11, 2025 ip fray article). This “balanced” approach will allow Huawei to influence how this multi-generational pool is shaped as time evolves, according to Mr. Fan.
Originally solely an HEVC patent pool, Via LA announced in May 2024 that it was expanding the program to include VVC patents, with TCL joining this extended iteration as both a licensor and licensee. Over 500 companies have now obtained licenses from this program.
In a statement today, Mr. Fan said the company is “pleased” to announce this strategic project:
“With increasingly wider deployment of video and audio standard technologies, Huawei, both as a licensor and licensee, is dedicated to exploring an efficient approach to share our groundbreaking video and audio technologies through Via LA’s patent pool, which also provides certainty and transparency to the market.”
Also in a statement today, Mr. Hoglund said the pool administrator is “very happy” to welcome Huawei to its HEVC/VVC pool as a VVC licensor and licensee:
“Huawei has one of the most significant VVC patent portfolios and will be very important to our video device programs in the future.”
He noted that Huawei not only has “many” VVC patents, but many “good” patents, and the addition of the company to this program will be specifically important to strengthen the VVC half of the program: “So we are happy to have Huawei jumping into the pool with us.”
The Via LA President noted that of over 200 patent pool meetings that the company has hosted, the Business Summit this week saw seven of its first in China – and he is eager to host many more. He also re-emphasized the company’s enthusiasm to have licensees who also hold relevant patents present in the rooms for such discussions:
“If you favour licensors too much then you will have to spend a lot of time litigating but if you favour licensees too much you won’t make as much money.”
Complimenting Via’s “balanced” approach to licensing, Mr. Fan noted that joining as a licensor and licensee means Huawei will be able to influence the outcome of the HEVC/VVC program. But, he emphasizes, Huawei will continue to try to be balanced:
“Those pools that favor licensors too much won’t be as successful – we are part of both communities and in several Via pools and find Via’s rates to be very fair.”