FWIW, here is the response from Herbert van de Sompel (LANL)
regarding IP encumbrances on MPEG-21 specifications. Nothing
definitive, but I didn't think that he would/could be. The paper
looks interesting, though. Best, David Dear David, Thanks for
your interest in our work. The recent paper at gives a rather
detailed insight of our work with MPEG-21 specs. (A) This is
what I posted to the DSpace list, recently, re IP issues on
MPEG-21 DID, which one could consider the industry equivalent of
METS: (He quotes
http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=10818549)
The other MPEG-21 specs we use are Digital Item Identification
(DII), and the Digital Item Processing (DIP). We currently have
no insights in IP issues re DIP, and are pretty sure nothing is
going in re DII. (B) We are actively involved in the
standardization effort, having made significant contributions to
DID, DII and DIP. We will remain involved until these 3 specs
are fully standardized, and they meet our needs. We have access
to all vers