M&K Holdings initiates Munich patent suit as Snap litigation escalates

The coordinated enforcement by VDP Pool members represents the first major legal test of patent licensing for the AV1 and HEVC codecs against a major streaming platform. For the industry, this litigation will likely define the FRAND (Fair, Reasonable, and Non-Discriminatory) royalty rates for modern video compression standards used across mobile and web interfaces. If the courts side with the licensors, streaming services may face higher per-user licensing costs or be forced into bundled pool agreements. Watch the Munich streaming royalty guidelines on the VDP fee structure, as it could set a global precedent for how patent pools calculate royalties for software-based video distribution.

The intensifying legal pressure from the Access Advance VDP Pool follows a period of consolidation in the patent landscape. Per IAM Media in January 2026, the VDP Pool was specifically designed to streamline licensing for video streaming and software providers who previously navigated fragmented patent claims across HEVC and the newer AV1 standard. While AV1 was originally marketed as a royalty-free alternative to HEVC by the Alliance for Open Media (AOM), this recent wave of litigation confirms that patent pools are aggressively asserting that AV1 implementations still infringe on foundational coding technologies. This shift mirrors earlier patent wars in the H.264 era, but with the added complexity of the Unified Patent Court's (UPC) ability to issue cross-border injunctions in Europe.

According to an April 2026 report from Foss Patents, the involvement of South Korean entities like ETRI and M&K Holdings underscores a strategic pivot toward using the UPC's Munich division as a primary venue for technical standard-essential patent (SEP) enforcement. This strategy is bolstered by the 2025 UK Supreme Court decision in the Avanci litigation, which established that UK courts have the jurisdiction to set global FRAND rates. Snap’s counter-offensive in London suggests the company is attempting to use this precedent to cap its global liability. As more hardware and software vendors integrate HEVC for 4K and HDR content, the outcome of these cases will likely dictate whether the industry moves toward a consolidated pool model or continues to face bilateral litigation from individual patent holders seeking higher independent returns.