Twelve Rights Holders Join Video Codec Pool

Access Advance grew its Video Distribution Patent Pool in H1 2026, adding 12 holders, including Sharp and M&K Holdings.

13 Aug 2026

A single video stream can carry rights claims from dozens of patent holders, spread across four codec generations. Untangling them once meant separate contracts with each. That is the problem Access Advance's Video Distribution Patent Pool was built to solve, and this year it grew again.

In the first half of 2026, the pool added 12 new members, including Sharp, M&K Holdings, Tagivan, and nine others. Their patents cover AV1, VP9, HEVC, and VVC, the codecs that compress most of the video now moving across the internet. Bundling rights to all four under one licence, rather than negotiating separately with each holder, cuts the legal cost of getting a streaming product to market.

The appeal of pooling is straightforward. Smaller streaming operators, lacking the legal departments of larger rivals, have historically found bespoke licensing negotiations prohibitively expensive. A single pooled fee changes that arithmetic, and the effect is to lower the entry cost for new competitors, not just to simplify life for incumbents.

Peter Moller, chief executive of Access Advance, called the expansion "a real win" for the pool's ability to serve varied streaming business models. That is the sort of statement chief executives make when their business grows, but the underlying trend is real enough: as video codecs multiply, so does the incentive to license them collectively rather than piecemeal.

VVC, the newest of the four codecs, is worth watching. It compresses video more efficiently than its predecessors, a useful trait as broadcasters push toward 8K resolution and immersive formats that eat bandwidth. Bringing VVC-capable holders into the pool early may spare licensees the scramble that often accompanies a new standard's rollout.

Whether pooling is an unambiguous good is less clear. Concentrating licensing power in one administrator raises its own questions about pricing and access, even as it lowers transaction costs elsewhere. Regulators have generally tolerated patent pools on the theory that the efficiency gains outweigh the risk of collusion, but that tolerance depends on pools remaining open to new entrants on reasonable terms. For now, growth continues: more additions are likely before the year is out.