Have the patents for MPEG-4 Visual expired yet?
NO! ☹️ (in Brazil)
YES! 😍 (elsewhere)
All worldwide patents have expired except for 1 patent still active in Brazil:
- last patent in Brazil, BR PI0109962-0, will expire on 2026-07-19.
For historical reference:
- last patent in Europe, EP 1279291, expired on 2021-04-09;
- last meaningful patent in the US, US 6959046, expired on 2022-12-07. The last patent in the US, likely non essential, US 7395211, expired on 2023-11-14.
The patent list managed by Via Licensing Alliance is available at: https://via-la.com/licensing-programs/mpeg-4-visual/#patent-list
This is about MPEG-4 Part 2 (for example Xvid). For H.264 or AVC see Have the patents for H.264 MPEG-4 AVC expired yet?
This page is not suitable for official legal advice. If you require official legal advice, please call your lawyer.
Brazilian patents
[edit]MPEG-4 Visual has one patent still active in Brazil. Expiration dates were estimated considering 10 years from the date of grant (for Brazilian patents filed until 2021-04-07).
- 2026-07-19: BR PI0109962-0 (Siemens AG)