From: Petter Reinholdtsen Two years later, I am still not sure if it is legal here in Norway
+to use or publish a video in H.264 or MPEG4 format edited by the
+commercially licensed video editors, without limiting the use to
+create "personal" or "non-commercial" videos or get a license
+agreement with MPEG LA. If one
+want to publish and broadcast video in a non-personal or commercial
+setting, it might be that those tools can not be used, or that video
+format can not be used, without breaking their copyright license. I
+am not sure.
+Back
+then, I found that the copyright license terms for Adobe Premiere
+and Apple Final Cut Pro both specified that one could not use the
+program to produce anything else without a patent license from MPEG
+LA. The issue is not limited to those two products, though. Other
+much used products like those from Avid and Sorenson Media have terms
+of use are similar to those from Adobe and Apple. The complicating
+factor making me unsure if those terms have effect in Norway or not is
+that the patents in question are not valid in Norway, but copyright
+licenses are. These are the terms for Avid Artist Suite, according to their
+published
+end user
+license
+text (converted to lower case text for easier reading): 18.2. MPEG-4. MPEG-4 technology may be included with the
+software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice: This product is licensed under the MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio
+license for the personal and non-commercial use of a consumer for (i)
+encoding video in compliance with the MPEG-4 visual standard (âMPEG-4
+videoâ) and/or (ii) decoding MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a
+consumer engaged in a personal and non-commercial activity and/or was
+obtained from a video provider licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4
+video. No license is granted or shall be implied for any other
+use. Additional information including that relating to promotional,
+internal and commercial uses and licensing may be obtained from MPEG
+LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com. This product is licensed under
+the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license for encoding in compliance
+with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except that an additional license
+and payment of royalties are necessary for encoding in connection with
+(i) data stored or replicated in physical media which is paid for on a
+title by title basis and/or (ii) data which is paid for on a title by
+title basis and is transmitted to an end user for permanent storage
+and/or use, such additional license may be obtained from MPEG LA,
+LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for additional details. 18.3. H.264/AVC. H.264/AVC technology may be included with the
+software. MPEG LA, L.L.C. requires this notice: This product is licensed under the AVC patent portfolio license for
+the personal use of a consumer or other uses in which it does not
+receive remuneration to (i) encode video in compliance with the AVC
+standard (âAVC videoâ) and/or (ii) decode AVC video that was encoded
+by a consumer engaged in a personal activity and/or was obtained from
+a video provider licensed to provide AVC video. No license is granted
+or shall be implied for any other use. Additional information may be
+obtained from MPEG LA, L.L.C. See http://www.mpegla.com.
+
Note the requirement that the videos created can only be used for +personal or non-commercial purposes.
+ +The Sorenson Media software have +similar terms:
+ ++ ++ +With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 Video +Decoders and/or Encoders: Any such product is licensed under the +MPEG-4 visual patent portfolio license for the personal and +non-commercial use of a consumer for (i) encoding video in compliance +with the MPEG-4 visual standard (âMPEG-4 videoâ) and/or (ii) decoding +MPEG-4 video that was encoded by a consumer engaged in a personal and +non-commercial activity and/or was obtained from a video provider +licensed by MPEG LA to provide MPEG-4 video. No license is granted or +shall be implied for any other use. Additional information including +that relating to promotional, internal and commercial uses and +licensing may be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See +http://www.mpegla.com.
+ +With respect to a license from Sorenson pertaining to MPEG-4 +Consumer Recorded Data Encoder, MPEG-4 Systems Internet Data Encoder, +MPEG-4 Mobile Data Encoder, and/or MPEG-4 Unique Use Encoder: Any such +product is licensed under the MPEG-4 systems patent portfolio license +for encoding in compliance with the MPEG-4 systems standard, except +that an additional license and payment of royalties are necessary for +encoding in connection with (i) data stored or replicated in physical +media which is paid for on a title by title basis and/or (ii) data +which is paid for on a title by title basis and is transmitted to an +end user for permanent storage and/or use. Such additional license may +be obtained from MPEG LA, LLC. See http://www.mpegla.com for +additional details.
+ +
Some free software like +Handbrake and +FFMPEG uses GPL/LGPL licenses and do +not have any such terms included, so for those, there is no +requirement to limit the use to personal and non-commercial.