1. The Digital Media Project process1 The problems with media standards Leonardo Chiariglione Workshop on “Rebuilding bridges between industry and standardisation” Osaka, 2004/07/12

2. The Digital Media Project process2 Patents Patents are authorisations for the monopolistic exploitation of inventions Patents are an incentive to create innovation Patents have a limited duration (from 14 to 20 years today) Patents are linked to standards –For an industry it is “nice” – at times “unavoidable” – to be able to rely on something “common”, even if it is patented

3. The Digital Media Project process3 Standards Webster’s – 1 –A conspicuous object (as a banner) formerly carried at the top of a pole and used to mark a rallying point especially in battle or to serve as an emblem Webster’s – 2 –Something that is established by authority, custom or general consent as a model or example to be followed Encyclopaedia Britannica –Imposition of standards that permit large production runs of component parts that are readily fitted to other parts without adjustment Leonardo –Codified agreement between parties who recognise the advantage of all doing certain things in an given way

4. The Digital Media Project process4 Standards bodies Organisations offering services to an industry to develop “agreements” Different status –Formal: e.g. ITU, an agency of the United Nations –Private: e.g. ISO, a Swiss not-for-profit association –Sectorial: e.g. OMA, an industry forum for the mobile communication industry –Global: e.g. ITU and ISO –Regional: e.g. ETSI, a European institute for telecommunication standards But the rules of behaviour are almost the same Let’s see the ISO case

5. The Digital Media Project process5 The International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) Not-for-profit organisation established in Geneva Scope: everything that is not –Telecommunication (purview of ITU) –Electrotechnical (purview of IEC) No more than one standards organisation from a country can be member of ISO Technical work done by –Technical Committees (TC) –Subcommittees (SC) –Working Groups (WG) Examples of Technical Committees –TC 1: Threadings –JTC 1: Information Technology

6. The Digital Media Project process6 Principles of ISO standardisation A standard should enable anybody to build equipment conforming to the standard –The standard should include normative clauses and means to test for conformity In principle use of standards should be accessible by anybody Standards whose use requires IPR from a third party are acceptable if the party declares to be willing to license his IPR “on fair and reasonable terms and non-discriminatory conditions” Development of standards is separate from licensing terms

7. The Digital Media Project process7 Process of ISO standards development #1Phase of workAcronym 1.New ProjectNP 2.Call for Proposals (MPEG specific)CfP 3.Working DraftWD 4.Committee DraftCD 5.Final Committee DraftFCD 6.Final Draft International StandardFDIS 7.International StandardIS

8. The Digital Media Project process8 Media Different types of “media” –Media contents (text, audio, video etc.) are immaterial but require physical carriers and devices to be created, stored, moved and used –Media carriers (discs, tapes, radio waves, cables etc.) are needed to store and move media contents –Media devices (decoders, storage devices etc.) are needed to convert media content information to a form that is suitable to be held by media carriers and back to a form that is understood by human senses Over the last decades many technologies have been invented to deal with media

9. The Digital Media Project process9 The “El Dorado” of Digital Media Ever since digital technologies were invented many industries dreamed of the possibilities offered by digital video and audio The stakeholders –Telcos (better speech and support to more media on their networks) –OTA Broadcasters (more programs, more spectrum) –Cable broadcasters (more programs, more services) –CE companies (new and more diverse equipment) –VLSI companies (more outlets to their ICs) –IT companies (more opportunities to manage vast and diverse amounts of data)

10. The Digital Media Project process10 The limits of yesterday’s rules of behaviour Too many patents required to implement a standard –Patent pools “revived” It takes more time to get licensing terms than to develop the standard –4 years for MPEG-2 Video and for MPEG-4 Visual Too many different industries need the same standard –Licensing good for one industry may not work for another

11. The Digital Media Project process11 The origins of the Digital Media Project Launched in July 2003 as Digital Media Manifesto (DMM) Motivated by realisation that digital technologies are often –not used for what they can do or –misused DMM developed and published by a grass root movement at http://www.dmpf.org/manifesto http://www.dmpf.org/manifesto DMM targets an improved Digital Media Experience that is legitimate and economically rewarding for the multiplicity of players on the value chain and satisfactory for end-users DMM sees a pervasive “Digital Media stalemate” as the cause of the unsustainable present and the obstacle to move towards the realisation of an improved Digital Media Experience

12. The Digital Media Project process12 The major actions proposed by DMM Policy actions P1Mapping of traditional rights and usages to the digital space P2Phasing out analogue legacies P3Deployment of broadband access P4Improving development of and access to standards Technical actions T1Interoperable DRM platforms T2Interoperable end-user devices T3End-to-end conformance assessment

13. The Digital Media Project process13 P4: Improving development of and access to standards The ability to feed innovation via the standards process is key to maintain a vibrant DM business Today the process is stalling –The development of standards is separated from exploitation of standards –What is RAND for one industry, is discriminatory for another –Too much garbage gets a “patent” label The DMM RA 4 –Review the workflow so that business models that the standard will support are analysed early in the process –Raise the patent acceptance threshold

14. The Digital Media Project process14 Read more at http://digital-media-project.org