H.264 Licensing: Massive Fee Hikes by Via Licensing Alliance (heise.de)

• Royalties increasing by up to 4500% in specific tiers.
• Mid-market European tech firms face significant operational cost increases.
• Market incentive grows for royalty-free codecs like AV1 to replace H.264.

"Via Licensing Alliance has announced a drastic increase in royalties for the H.264 video standard, with fees surging up to 45 times previous rates. This move targets mid-sized hardware and software providers, highlighting the vulnerabilities inherent in relying on proprietary patent pools for core digital infrastructure."