Via Licensing Announces Availability of Joint Patent License for AVC (H.264) Video Compression Standard

Joint license available from five intellectual property owners

San Francisco, March 30, 2005 — Via Licensing Corporation is pleased to announce the immediate availability of a joint patent license for patents that are essential for implementation of the joint ISO/IEC (ISO/IEC 14496-10) and ITU (ITU-T Rec. H.264) video coding standard as defined in the patent license agreement.

Licenses to patents that are essential to the AVC Standard owned by 8x8 Inc.(Nasdaq: EGHT), British Telecommunications plc., Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation, Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V., and UB Video Incorporated are offered through the program.

The joint patent license contains a provision that waives royalties for practice of the AVC Standard for the period prior to December 31, 2004, for companies who become licensees on or before May 27, 2005.

"AVC is a truly impressive technology and is critical to the convergence of computing and consumer electronics devices," said Via Licensing President Ramzi Haidamus. "Our patent owners represent the cutting edge of AVC's technological gains. Many of its groundbreaking advancements are the inventions of these companies, and we are thrilled to be able to offer licenses to their patents."

Joint licensing programs provide the market with a convenient and cost-effective way to obtain licenses to the patents essential to the practice of a standard. By doing so, the programs encourage greater adoption of the standard. Without such a joint license, the process of providing and obtaining necessary licenses would be cumbersome and expensive for all parties.

Companies that produce end-user products that practice the AVC Standard should visit www.vialicensing.com to learn more about the joint patent license and to request a sample agreement for review.

ITU-T Rec. H.264 and ISO/IEC 14496-10 are jointly developed specifications for AVC, the next-generation open-standard video compression technology. AVC provides greatly enhanced compression performance and is suited to a broad range of applications, including video telephony, Internet protocol streaming, gaming, high-definition DVD, mobile device broadcast, and compressed personal video recording, among many others. AVC is estimated to be two to three times more efficient than the widely deployed MPEG-2 video codec.

About Via Licensing Corporation
Via Licensing Corporation develops and administers patent licensing programs or patent pools 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 benefits of joint licensing programs, the greater adoption of standards through joint licensing programs, and the benefits of AVC technologies for a broad range of applications, are "forward-looking statements" that are subject to risks and uncertainties. These risks and uncertainties, which could cause the forward-looking statements to differ materially from anticipated results, include, without limitation, risks associated with licensing technologies through patent pools; risks associated with licensing industry standards technologies; market acceptance of AVC technologies; rapid changes in compression technologies; risks associated with the development of markets for video telephony, Internet protocol streaming, gaming, high-definition DVD, mobile device broadcasting, compressed personal video recording, and other markets that may use AVC technologies; and other risks detailed in Dolby's Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including its registration statement on Form S-1, as amended, filed in connection with its initial public offering. Dolby disclaims any obligation to update information contained in these forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.