Dolby Laboratories, a leader in multichannel sound, today announced the launch of a newly expanded MPEG-4 AAC licensing program. Joined by the co-licensors, Dolby is building on its successful MPEG-2 AAC program to address streaming, wireless, and multimedia applications. Acting as the licensing administrator for patents held by AT&T, Dolby, Fraunhofer IIS-A, and Sony, Dolby is pleased to announce the addition of Nokia to the group of co-licensors. Dolby will immediately begin offering MPEG-4 AAC licenses worldwide under fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory terms. Furthermore, a convenient migration path for existing MPEG-2 AAC licensees will be made available. The latest licensing program from Dolby Laboratories is specifically geared toward MPEG-4 applications, which include Internet streaming, electronic media distribution (EMD), multimedia playback, and wireless applications. "Dolby has long recognized that one size does not fit all when licensing to a worldwide market with multiple business models and applications," commented Ed Schummer, Senior VP and General Manager of Dolby's Consumer Division. "The MPEG-4 AAC licensing program has been fine-tuned, taking into account various market demands in radically different environments ranging from freely distributed PC-based software decoders to high-quality playback consumer electronics devices."