DVD PATENT LICENSE INCENTIVE PROGRAM ANNOUNCED

PALO ALTO, CA (November 1, 2000) - A DVD patent license incentive program was announced today by six leading developers of DVD technology and formats -- Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Time Warner Inc., Toshiba Corporation and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) -- who together are licensing all of the essential DVD-Video and DVD-ROM patents they respectively own. These six companies initiated a worldwide joint licensing program in June 1999.

Under the announced incentive program, companies that execute a DVD Patent License Agreement within the eight-month period following receipt of a letter notifying them of this incentive program, will receive a 25 percent discount on a portion of the payments due under the Agreement. This discount will apply to the payments due for the first six months of any unlicensed activities undertaken prior to June 30, 2000. Notice letters of this incentive program have already been sent to companies believed to be utilizing one or more of the patents, and additional letters will be sent to others as the members of the licensing group identify them.

All companies that manufacture, use, import, sell or offer to sell DVD products -- including DVD Video players, DVD-ROM drives, DVD-Video decoders and DVD-Video and DVD-ROM discs -- that are covered by any patent included in the DVD Patent License, may enter into a DVD Patent License or into separate license arrangements with the six companies.

The six-company DVD licensing pool, administered by Toshiba Corporation, is based in Japan. Matsushita Electric Corporation of America serves as the license contact for the pool in North, Central and South America.