Access Advance and Alibaba Announce Alibaba's Expanded Participation in the VDP Pool
Access Advance LLC and Alibaba Group today announced that Alibaba has joined the Access Advance Video Distribution Patent Pool (VDP Pool) as a Licensee, securing a license to the pool's comprehensive coverage of HEVC, VVC, VP9, and AV1 codec technologies. The announcement marks a milestone in a multi-year collaboration between the two companies that spans the VVC Advance Patent Pool, where Alibaba participates as both a Licensor and Licensee, and the VDP Pool, where Alibaba joined as a Licensor in 2025. Alibaba's subsidiary Youku, one of China's leading streaming platforms, also joined the VDP Pool as a Licensee in 2025.
Alibaba operates one of the world's most diverse video ecosystems, spanning a wide range of video-based services across e-commerce, entertainment, and digital media. As video has become central to how consumers shop, communicate, and access entertainment, the breadth of Alibaba's video operations reflects the kind of business model complexity the VDP Pool was designed to serve.
"When a company contributes its innovation to video codec standards, adds its patents to a pool, takes a license, and then expands that relationship across multiple programs, it reflects their engagement with the licensing ecosystem that drives innovation and adoption of the best technology. Alibaba has been a partner in building that ecosystem, and today's announcement is a meaningful step," said Peter Moller, CEO of Access Advance. "The VDP Pool’s single-license structure covers essential patents across all four major video codecs for one royalty rate, eliminating the need to manage multiple bilateral agreements as platforms evolve. Alibaba's operations span a broad range of activities including e-commerce, entertainment, and others, and the VDP Pool is built for exactly that kind of scale and diversity. We are pleased to have their full participation on both sides of the program."
