Dolby changes mandate to Dolby Atmos licensing partners

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Audioholics: Dolby to Restrict Non-Native Upmixing on Atmos Based Products

Fudzilla: Dolby wants to monopolise its tech

Sound outfit Dolby is finding itself in hot water after some apparently monopolistic style behavior.

According to Audioholics, Dolby recently issued a mandate to all of its Atmos licensee partners to restrict usage of third-party upmixers with any Dolby signals including 5.1/7.1 DD, DD+, TrueHD and Atmos.

That means if you're running a DTS Soundbar, it won't process a Dolby signal, or no dice if you want to use the Auro-Matic Upmixer for a native Dolby signal. Is Dolby doing this to protect its IP or to monopolize consumer audio like they tried to do with its patented Atmos-enabled speaker?

Audioholics said the company will however "permit third party upmixing and/or surround virtualization of channel-based codecs that support Dolby Atmos rendering as long as the third party doesn't license their own upmixing technologies to third parties."