Macrovision Announces Microsoft's Licensing of Its Analog Copy Protec

Macrovision Announces Microsoft's Licensing of Its Analog Copy Protection Intellectual Property

    Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

    SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 1, 2005--

Macrovision Solution Offers Powerful Copy Management for DVD Devices, Set-Top Boxes and PCs
    Macrovision Corporation (Nasdaq:MVSN), the leader in digital media management and content protection, today announced that Microsoft Corp. has licensed and received certain rights to Macrovision's intellectual property (IP), which includes patents and copyrights, regarding managing and preventing unauthorized copies on analog video interfaces. Covered Macrovision technologies include Macrovision's original analog copy protection (ACP), new enhanced capabilities for ACP aimed at new uses such as video-on-demand and pay-per-view (ACPe), and other rights signaling technologies (CGMS-A, the US over-the-air "Broadcast flag" and others).
    "Microsoft values Macrovision's leadership on media copy management and analog rights signaling technologies, and has taken the licenses necessary to ensure a seamless experience for consumers, and an effective platform for software developers in regards to managing and consuming video content," said Brad Brunell, General Manager of IP Licensing at Microsoft. "This licensing agreement reaffirms Microsoft's ongoing commitment to respect and value intellectual property because licensing leads to innovation and investment."
    This agreement opens the door for PC, set-top box, and other device manufacturers employing Microsoft software to license new Macrovision ACP capabilities, with confidence that the Microsoft operating system software will be compatible with all the possible uses of the world's leading analog copy protection and rights signaling technologies. This also levels the playing field for PCs, set top boxes and other consumer electronic devices receiving high value pay-per-view and video-on-demand content.
    "Macrovision and Microsoft have a similar vision of the networked home where consumers have freedom to choose when and where they are entertained, as copyrights are used consistently as agreed by consumers and the rights owners," said Steve Weinstein, vice president and general manager, Entertainment Technologies Group, Macrovision Corporation. "With this agreement, the networked home moves one step closer to realizing that vision."

    About Macrovision

    Macrovision develops and markets content protection, digital rights management and electronic license management solutions for the video, music and software industries. Macrovision's technologies are embedded in over 8.9 billion DVD, VHS and CD units representing over $130 billion of protected entertainment content. In the software market, Macrovision licenses software developers the FLEXnet(TM) universal licensing platform and the InstallShield(R) suite of software installation, repackaging and update solutions, which are deployed on more than 500 million desktops worldwide. Over 50,000 software publishers and hundreds of Fortune 1000 companies use Macrovision's technologies to maximize the value of their software. Macrovision is headquartered in Santa Clara, California and has offices worldwide. More information about Macrovision can be found at www.macrovision.com.

    (C)Macrovision 2005. Macrovision, ACP, ACPe, FLEXnet and InstallShield are registered trademarks or trademarks of Macrovision Corporation. All other brands and product names and trademarks are the registered property of their respective companies.

    This press release may contain "forward-looking" statements as that term is defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. A number of factors could cause Macrovision's actual results to differ from anticipated results expressed in such forward-looking statements. Such factors are addressed in Macrovision's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2003 and its latest Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended September 30, 2004, which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (available at www.sec.gov). Macrovision assumes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

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CONTACT: Macrovision Corporation Miao Chuang, 408-562-8451 mchuang@macrovision.com or ThirdWire for Macrovision Gary Byrd, 831-440-2414 Gary.byrd@thirdwirepr.com

KEYWORD: CALIFORNIA INDUSTRY KEYWORD: HARDWARE COMPUTERS/ELECTRONICS SOFTWARE PRODUCT SOURCE: Macrovision Corporation

Copyright Business Wire 2005