A data sequence produced in accordance with a patented video compression process enjoys protection as a direct product of the process (MPEG-2 video signal coding)

The protection of a direct process product was originally created to protect the chemical industry from the import of process products manufactured abroad. This protection puts a product manufactured using a manufacturing process that is protected in Germany but not in the country of manufacture under protection as if the product itself were protected with a product claim. With the decision MPEG-2 video signal coding, ruled by the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof) in 2012, the video data as the result of a video compression process are placed under a protection that extends to every embodiment, including those resulting from duplication by mechanical molding.

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