AWS will not protect users from media codec patent holders • The Register

Amazon is updating its service terms to remove patent infringement protection for certain media services, leaving customers potentially liable for codec-related patent claims.

Amazon is warning users of its media services that it will not protect them against patent infringement claims relating to media codec technology supported by those services. In a February 2 notification sent to relevant customers, the cloud giant says it is updating its Service Terms to specify it does not have "defense or payment obligations for third-party patent claims against you related to use of these services for audio/video encoding, decoding, or transcoding."

The services in question are AWS Elemental MediaLive, AWS Elemental MediaConvert, Amazon Interactive Video Service, Chime SDK, Amazon GameLift Streams, and Amazon Kinesis Video Services.

Explaining the reason for this decision, AWS says some patent holders of media codec technology are "increasingly refusing to license service providers like AWS," or else do not offer reasonable terms that will protect customers. Some patent holders are demanding license payments "that far exceed the value of their patented technology," according to AWS, in amounts that are "not feasible for it to pay" without incurring price increases for all customers of the affected services.

It seems from the notification that AWS has undertaken licensing discussions with patent holders of some of these media codecs, but, unable to reach a satisfactory agreement, opted to continue supporting the relevant tech anyway, while passing off legal liability to users.

The update from AWS claims this approach is commonplace across cloud media service providers, stating it believes this is "the most appropriate course of action in the circumstances."

One AWS customers who tipped off The Register about the update alleged: "This is AWS saying they are still going to use unlicensed software in their products, but just not pay the license, and if the owners of the unlicensed products come to get them, then they'll just pass on your details and say sue them instead."

The updated Service Terms are effective immediately. This change only applies to the listed media services, and AWS says it continues to offer uncapped intellectual property (IP) infringement protection to customers using other services.

But the update does not specify which codecs are affected, making it difficult for users to know if they are unwittingly exposing themselves to potential patent infringement claims. AWS Elemental MediaLive alone supports a number of these, including AV1, H.264, H.265, MPEG-2, AAC, Dolby Digital, Dolby E, Dolby Digital Plus, MPEG Audio, and PCM, for example.

In the murky world of IP licensing, users can be led to believe their subscription for a product covers all the necessary licenses, only for some individual or company to pop up claiming to have a patent on some part of it and demanding back payments. Audio/video codecs are no exception, as the saga of Google's VP8 demonstrates.

We asked Amazon to comment, and if it could confirm which codecs may be potentially problematic. A company spokesperson told us: "If customers have any questions about what codecs are used by different AWS services, they can review our service documentation or contact AWS Support. We have also directed all customers with questions about the change to contact AWS Support for more information." ®