Thursday, October 11, 2007

IP from National Projects; MP3 from Germany

If a breakthrough is found, who will own the IP? IP of national projects were discussed in the AIPPI forum. Cases from Germany, Switzerland, Japan and Singapore were presented. Each country is distinctive with considerations for national interest, project initiator and inventors rewards. Do you know that MP3 is a result of one of Germany's national project?

The coding of MP3 is owned by Alcatel-Lucent and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft. In Aug 7, 2007 a federal judge reverses a USD1.5 billion judgement against Microsoft for including MP3 coding in Windows Media Player. The decision seems to ease fears on other MP3 provider such as Apple and RealNewtworks.