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Nokia Joins AT&T, Dolby, Fraunhofer, and Sony in Enabling Next-Generation Audio Solutions

Acting as the licensing administrator for patents held by AT&T, Dolby, Fraunhofer IIS-A, and Sony, Dolby is pleased to announce the addition of Nokia to the group of co-licensors. Dolby will immediately begin offering MPEG-4 AAC licenses worldwide under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms. Furthermore, a convenient migration path for existing MPEG-2 AAC licensees will be made available.

The latest licensing program from Dolby Laboratories is specifically geared toward MPEG-4 applications, which include Internet streaming, electronic media distribution (EMD), multimedia playback, and wireless applications. ``Dolby has long recognized that one size does not fit all when licensing to a worldwide market with multiple business models and applications,'' commented Ed Schummer, Senior VP and General Manager of Dolby's Consumer Division. ``The MPEG-4 AAC licensing program has been fine-tuned, taking into account various market demands in radically different environments ranging from freely distributed PC-based software decoders to high-quality playback consumer electronics devices.''

Under the new license terms, licensees will pay the following royalty rates for MPEG-4 AAC products:

-- For a consumer (non-commercial) decoder product: $0.50 to $0.12
   (volume-based) per channel

    -- Royalty rates for PC-based software decoder products are $0.25
       per channel, up to a maximum annual payment of $25,000 per
       legal entity

-- For a consumer (non-commercial) encoder product: $0.50 to $0.12
   (volume-based) per channel

    -- Royalty rates for PC-based software encoder products are $0.50
       to $0.27 per channel (volume-based), up to a maximum annual
       payment of $250,000 per legal entity

-- For a professional (commercial) decoder product: $2.00 per channel

-- For a professional (commercial) encoder product: $20.00 per channel

There are no royalties or usage fees for content distribution in AAC format, either in electronic form or in packaged media.

The MPEG-4 AAC Patent License Agreement will be available in April. ``The significance of our new licensing program is that it has been developed in response to high market demand in a rapidly moving marketplace,'' noted Ramzi Haidamus, Dolby's Director of Business Development. ``We have been receiving numerous requests for an MPEG-4 AAC license, and we are pleased to announce the commencement of this program.''

The AAC co-licensors have expanded their existing MPEG-2 AAC patent licensing program to include additional patents for MPEG-4 AAC, which includes several important enhancements. New AAC tools in their MPEG-4 incarnation allow increased efficiency at lower data rates-MPEG-4 AAC is effective at stereo bit rates down to the 40 to 48 kbps range, and to the 24 to 30 kbps range in mono. MPEG-4 AAC includes tools for error robustness, which makes this technology of particular interest in wireless networking applications. MPEG-4 AAC also offers scaleable bitstream modes and new low-latency tools for high-quality real-time conferencing applications. Dolby will be promoting MPEG-4 AAC for 3G wireless networks, Internet streaming of audio and audio/video, and home networking, as well as for the traditional MPEG-2 AAC applications such as electronic music delivery, digital radio, and ISDB television broadcast.

For more information about AAC, visit www.aac-audio.com, or contact aacla@dolby.com.

About AT&T

AT&T (www.att.com) is among the world's premier voice, video, and data communications companies, serving consumers, businesses, and government. Backed by the research and development capabilities of AT&T Labs, the company runs the world's largest, most sophisticated communications network and is the largest cable operator in the U.S. The company is a leading supplier of data and Internet services for businesses and offers outsourcing, consulting, and networking-integration to large businesses.

About Dolby Laboratories

Dolby Laboratories is the developer of signal processing systems used worldwide in applications that include motion picture sound, consumer entertainment products and media, broadcasting, and music recording. Based in San Francisco with European headquarters in England, the privately held company also has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Shanghai, Beijing, and Tokyo. For more information about Dolby Laboratories or Dolby Technologies, please visit www.dolby.com.

About Fraunhofer IIS-A

Fraunhofer IIS-A is a leading international research lab in the field of high-quality low bit-rate audio coding. Fraunhofer IIS-A has been the main developer of the most advanced audio coding schemes, like MPEG Layer-3 (mp3) and MPEG-2 AAC (Advanced Audio Coding). Fraunhofer IIS-A played a major role in the MPEG-4 Audio standardization process and contributes to many other standards bodies as well, like ITU-R WP6A, ITU-R WP6Q, 3GPP, ISMA, DVB and AES. For more information about Fraunhofer IIS-A please visit www.fhg.de/amm or send email to amm_info@iis.fhg.de.

About Nokia

Nokia is a leader in mobile communications. Backed by its experience, innovation, user-friendliness, and secure solutions, the company has become a leading supplier of mobile phones and mobile, fixed broadband and IP networks. By adding mobility to the Internet, Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia is one of the most broadly held companies in the world, with listings on six major exchanges.

About Sony Corporation

Sony Corporation, www.world.sony.com, is a leading manufacturer of audio, video, game, communications, and information technology products for the consumer and professional markets. With its music, pictures, computer entertainment and online businesses, Sony is uniquely positioned to be a leading personal broadband entertainment company in the world. Sony recorded consolidated annual sales of nearly $60 billion for the fiscal year 2001.

Contact:

     Dolby Laboratories
     Jim Arnold, 415/645-5116
     jja@dolby.com
        or
     Keith Hatschek & Associates
     Robert Anbian, 415/440-2442
     robert@hatschek.com