MPEG-4 Book, The

1.6. MPEG-4 Industry Forum

Because MPEG itself is not allowed to deal with any issues besides the development of technical specifications (notably patent identification and licensing), the industry players interested in the deployment of products and applications based on the MPEG-4 standard decided in the spring of 2000 to create the MPEG-4 Industry Forum (M4IF) [M4IF]. The M4IF is a not-for-profit organization for industrial players who want to manufacture, deploy, or use MPEG-4 technology. The philosophy is that all involved parties, even though competitors in some respect, profit from the standard being accepted and taking off. The major goal of the forum is “to further the adoption of the MPEG-4 standard, by establishing MPEG-4 as an accepted ...