‘No free lunch’: AV1 model faces pushback from US enforcers, experts
By Melissa Ritti ( April 15, 2026, 17:23 GMT | Comment) -- Kristen Osenga, an antitrust and IP expert and professor at the University of Richmond School of Law, told MLex she shares a key antitrust enforcer’s skepticism of standards unaccompanied by a commitment to license essential patents on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms. An attorney who works with AV1 implementers countered that the video codec is “clearly” royalty-free — for patent holders who join the Alliance for Open Media. The impasse could be coming to a head in the US.In public comments and inputs provided to US district courts and the US International Trade Commission in recent months, the US Department of Justice has been clear that patent practices which pose a threat to competition remain very much on their radar....
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