Via Licensing Issues Call for MPEG Surround Patents

Via Licensing Corporation today announced a call for patents that are essential to the practice of the MPEG Surround standard.

MPEG Surround is the latest audio technology to be standardized by the Moving Pictures Experts Group. The standard describes a highly efficient method of transmitting surround sound through bandwidth-limited channels. The technology supports multiple playback modes for home theater or even headphone-based rendering of surround sound, while maintaining compatibility with stereo-only playback devices. MPEG Surround operates independently of the underlying audio codec and can be used with, for example, AAC, HE AAC, Layer-2, or even PCM.

Additional information about MPEG Surround is available at www.mpegsurround.com. A copy of the standard (ISO/IEC 23003-1) can be obtained from the ISO online store at http://www.iso.org/iso/prods-services/ISOstore/store.html (search for “23003-1”).

Via Licensing has been selected by a group of the primary contributors to the MPEG Surround standard to establish and administer an MPEG Surround Joint Patent Licensing Program. This patent call has been issued for the purpose of identifying the owners of patents that are determined to be essential to the practice of the MPEG Surround standard. A patent is essential if it contains at least one independent claim that is necessarily infringed by the practice of the standard. Any entity with a patent or patent application found to be essential is invited to join a group of essential patent holders that will convene in order to discuss the commercial terms of a joint patent license to be offered under reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.

Any entity that believes it has patents or pending patent applications that are essential to the normative portions of ISO/IEC 23003-1 is invited to contact Via Licensing in order to receive information about how to submit patents for essentiality review.

For complete submission information, please email submissions@vialicensing.com, specifying your interest in submitting a patent or patent application for consideration of essentiality to the MPEG Surround Joint Patent Licensing Program.

About Via Licensing Corporation

Via Licensing Corporation develops and administers patent licensing programs on behalf of innovative technology companies and for the convenience of licensees. Via Licensing Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) and benefits from the expertise, infrastructure, and strategic business relationships that Dolby has developed in more than 35 years of licensing into the consumer electronics and personal computing markets. Via Licensing is involved in the development and operation of licensing programs for both mandated and de facto or emerging standards. For more information about Via Licensing Corporation, please visit www.vialicensing.com.

Certain statements in this press release, including statements regarding the capabilities of MPEG Surround standard, the eventual availability of a joint patent license for technologies essential to the MPEG Surround standard, and the expected timing of the launch of the joint licensing program, are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current expectations, and as a result of certain risks and uncertainties actual results may differ materially from those anticipated. The following important factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements: risks associated with licensing technologies through joint licensing programs; risks associated with licensing industry-standard technologies; market acceptance of MPEG Surround-capable devices; rapid changes in audio surround-sound transmission technologies; risks associated with the development of markets for MPEG Surround-capable products; and other risks detailed in Dolby’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including the risks identified under the section captioned "Risk Factors" in its most recent Periodic Report on Form 10-Q or 10-K. Dolby disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.

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