On January 7, 2026, Roku—a U.S.-based streaming device manufacturer, operating system service provider, and content aggregation platform—formally joined the HEVC Advance patent pool and the Video Distribution Pool (VDP) under Access Advance. This move resolves longstanding industry disputes over standard-essential patents (SEPs) for HEVC (H.265, High Efficiency Video Coding) standard essential patents. This move simultaneously concludes a series of patent infringement lawsuits against Huawei, Dolby, Sun Patent Trust, and other companies across multiple global jurisdictions.

As a key player in North America's streaming industry, Roku's business encompasses streaming devices, the Roku OS operating system, and content aggregation platforms. It held a 39% share of the U.S. connected TV market in Q4 2024, was named to Fortune's 2025 Global 50 Most Promising Companies list in September 2025, and received an upgraded “Overweight” rating from Morgan Stanley. Its key partners include TV manufacturers such as TCL and Hisense, and it has established a CTV advertising inventory partnership with HBO Max.

This settlement concludes over a year of protracted patent litigation. Previously, Roku's streaming devices and Prime Video service extensively utilized HEVC technology without securing a licensing agreement with Access Advance. Access Advance alleged that Roku used its patents without paying reasonable royalties.

In December 2024, Roku initiated a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts against patent management platform Access Advance, its primary licensor Sun Patent Trust, and Dolby. The lawsuit sought a court ruling on whether the relevant patent licensing terms complied with FRAND principles and called for the establishment of a globally uniform royalty rate.

In March 2025, the Munich Regional Court of the Unified Patent Court (UPC) issued an anti-suit injunction against Roku in a lawsuit filed by Dolby and Sun Patent Trust, prohibiting Roku from circumventing European patent enforcement through U.S. court proceedings;

In July 2025, the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts dismissed Roku's lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction and rejected its request to establish FRAND rates for Access Advance licenses;

In October 2025, Access Advance announced it had filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Roku in Brazil over High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC/H.265) patents. Dolby asserted infringement of two Brazilian patents: BR 112014010839-0 and BR 112014010842-0. In November 2025, the Munich I Regional Court in Germany granted Dolby's request for a preliminary injunction against Roku regarding one HEVC standard-essential patent;

In December 2025, Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. filed a lawsuit against Roku at the Munich Regional Division of the Unified Patent Court (UPC), involving patent EP2725797 concerning offset processing devices and data structures in video coding technology, case number UPC_CFI_0001112/2025.

In early January 2026, settlement signals emerged across these lawsuits. Brazilian court records indicate Dolby and Roku jointly filed for litigation suspension. Concurrently, in multiple UPC cases involving Dolby, Sun Patent Trust, and Huawei suing Roku, both parties submitted motions to stay proceedings.

On January 7, 2026, Access Advance officially confirmed the settlement. CEO Peter Moller stated that Roku had secured licenses for both the HEVC Advance and VDP patent pools, thereby obtaining comprehensive global authorization for HEVC technology usage across all scenarios—including device manufacturing and streaming services. Notably, Roku became the first U.S. company to join the VDP patent pool.