EXHIBIT 99.1
CERTIFICATION OF AND CONSENT TO USE OF STATEMENTS
CONTAINED IN FORM 10 REGISTRATION STATEMENT
The undersigned hereby certifies and consents to USA Video Corporation
("USA Video"), and its counsel Ogden Murphy Wallace P.L.L.C., as follows:
1. My professional and educational background includes the following
credential(s) and degree(s) that is(are) relevant to the statements I am
certifying:
I am a partner in the Intellectual Property firm of Hill & Hunn LLP. I have
received the following degrees: BS Electrical Engineering, University of Texas
(1977); J.D., University of Texas (1980); MS Computer Science, University of
Texas at Dallas (1989). I became registered to practice before the United States
Patent and Trademark Office in 1979. I am licensed to practice law in the courts
of the State of Texas, and am a member of several Federal District Courts and
Courts of Appeal.
I have practiced Intellectual Property law, primarily in the area of
patents, exclusively since 1980. I have written hundreds of patent applications,
and have been extensively involved in patent licensing and enforcement,
including litigation. I have been retained as an expert in several cases
regarding patent law and procedures, and regarding issues of infringement and
patent validity. I also have extensive experience counseling patent owners
regarding the value of their patents. I have lectured on Intellectual Property
Law issues, and am a member of the Texas State Bar College.
2. My employment and/or other experience includes the following experience
and/or has given me the following expertise that is relevant to the statements I
am certifying:
I wrote the original application that matured into Patent # 5,130,792, and
have been responsible for filing and obtaining foreign patents as well. I am
thus very familiar with the scope of the US and foreign patents, and their
strength in view of the prior art. I have been the patent counsel for USA Video
since 1989, and continue in this role at the present time. I have been in charge
of reinstating the `792 Patent.
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I have advised the company regarding all of its patent assets and
obligations, and continue to do so on a regular basis. I have worked with
representatives of the company to establish the facts set forth in USA Video's
Form 10 concerning its patents, and have contributed to the preparation of the
statement on patents in the Form 10.
3. I have read the statements attached hereto and included in USA Video's
Form 10 under the section entitled "Patents." The statements (a) are true and
correct, (b) do not contain an untrue statement of material fact, and (c) do not
omit to state a material fact necessary in order to make the statements, in the
light of the circumstances under which they are made, not misleading.
4. I understand that my certification will be provided to the Securities
and Exchange Commission as supplemental information pursuant to Rule 12b-4 under
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and hereby consent to the same. I also
consent to the reference to myself and our firm in the Form 10 under the heading
"Patents."
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has executed this Certification of and
Consent to Statements Contained in the Form 10 Registration Statement as of the
date set forth beside his signature.
/s/ Kenneth Hill August 1, 2000
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(Signature) (Date)
Kenneth Hill
Hill & Hunn LLP
Intellectual Property Attorneys
201 Main Street, Suite 1440
Fort Worth, Texas 76102
Voice: (817) 332-2113
Fax: (817) 332-2114
kenhill@hillandhunn.com
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The Patents
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USA Video owns patents for Video-on-Demand technology and Video-on-Demand
systems. Kenneth Hill of Hill & Hunn, Fort Worth, Texas, patent counsel to USA
Video, believes that the patents are relevant to emerging video transmission
technology, but the patents are not critical to the current development of
business.
USA Video applied for a U.S. patent for its Store and Forward VoD
technology on February 1, 1990. Corresponding overseas applications were filed
in 1992. USA Video was granted U.S. Patent # 5,130,792 on July 14, 1992. On June
12, 2000, the U.S. Patent Office reinstated the patent for USA Video's Store and
Forward VoD technology, which had expired because of an administrative oversight
that led to late payment of fees due in 1995.
In 1999, USA Video was granted patents on its Store and Forward VoD patent
applications in five European countries: England, France, Germany, Italy and
Spain. The technological characteristics of the European Patents are based on
the U.S. Patent, covering systems for transmitting video programs to remote
locations over a switched telephone network, and are similar in scope to the
U.S. patent claims. Additional applications are pending in Canada and Japan.
The value of the USA Video patents is presently unknown. However, patent
counsel believes that the market penetration of the technology that the patents
cover will be a factor in determining its value over time. USA Video believes
that anticipated bandwidth increases over the next few years will likely shift
the primary video delivery model away from a streaming model toward a model
where the entire compressed video file is downloaded from a server to a client's
system, decompressed and viewed by the client. As this shift occurs, USA Video
believes that its Video-on-Demand patent, which explicitly covers the latter
model, may, depending on the company's ability to enforce the patent, become
more valuable.
Patent counsel believes that any value which the patents may have would be
recognized either through a licensing program, or through market advantage
obtained by excluding others from the patented technology. The scope of the
potential market for licensing USA Video's Video-on-Demand patent will be
determined by how expansive the market for encoded video products becomes, how
many major industry players develop profitable VoD markets and the technology
used to implement the products.
In addition, patent counsel believes that the ability of USA Video to
successfully enforce the patent will also impact the value of the patent in the
future. The two primary ways USA Video intends to enforce its patents are
through licensing agreements with infringers and friendly negotiations. Should
either or both of these approaches fail in any particular case, USA Video is
prepared to prosecute infringement of its patents through litigation.
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