Vote to replace Access Advance with Sisvel as VCL HEVC/VVC pool administrator fails: less than 1/3 of licensors in favor

Context:

• In December, following the departure of its President, Heath Hoglund (December 15, 2025 ip fray article), Via Licensing Alliance divested the administration of its High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) and Versatile Video Coding (VVC) standard-essential patent (SEP) pools to Access Advance (December 15, 2025 ip fray article). It was then reported in March that Via’s video licensors had been kept in the dark about the Advance sale, although Via’s new President, Kevin Mack, told ip fray in an interview that there is a general understanding that transactions of this type “should be held in confidence” and that feedback from licensors had generally been very positive (April 1, 2026 ip fray article).
• In May, Harold Barrault, Vice President and Head of Patent Licensing at Orange (whom ip fray interviewed in Shanghai last year: April 15, 2025 ip fray article and who told the audience of IP Dealmakers last month why patent pools are an obvious solution to SEP licensing issues: May 12, 2026 ip fray article), reportedly asked VCL HEVC/VVC licensors to vote to change the pool administrator to Sisvel. He also reportedly asked them to endorse a suspension of royalty reductions for departing licensors. Each of these changes requires a minimum of 75% of the licensors to be on board to be approved.

What’s new: The vote has failed. More than ⅔ of the licensors have voted not to change the administrator, ip fray can confirm.

Direct impact and wider ramifications: There are 25 licensors (listed below the box) that are likely to be significantly affected by this vote. This is because, while the remaining licensors of this patent pool acquired from Via have either terminated their contracts or also have patents in Access Advance’s program, these specific 25 entities do not  (VCL HEVC/VVC program list of licensors). Those who voted to elect Sisvel as administrator could still leave (like some of their counterparts) and start a new program altogether.