News

DVD6C Licensing Group
(Authorized Licensor: Toshiba Corporation)

DVD6C to License Recordable DVD Licenses

NOVEMBER 19, 2002 -- The DVD6C Licensing Group (DVD6C), the industry body representing the seven leading developers of DVD technology and formats—AOL Time Warner Inc., Hitachi, Ltd., IBM Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Toshiba Corporation and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC)—today announced that it expects to start global licensing of essential patents for DVD-Audio and recordable DVD products on or about January 1, 2003. Licenses will cover both drives and media, including DVD-Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW and DVD-R.

DVD6C's license portfolio for recordable DVDs has gathered together essential patents owned by its member companies. Licensees using its services will benefit from one-stop shopping for key intellectual properties, and be able to apply it to products that comply with DVD-format specifications defined by the DVD Forum.

Interested parties are also free to negotiate separate license agreements with DVD6C's seven member companies, rather than taking out a single portfolio license. The companies have committed to provide such licenses for their patents under fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions.

The DVD6C joint licensing program was launched in June 1999 to provide one-stop shopping for essential DVD-Video- and DVD-ROM-related patents owned by DVD6C members. Today's announcement marks the addition of recordable DVD-related essential patents to the Group's license portfolio.

For the potential licensee's convenience, royalty fees under this licensing program are shown below. The details need to be confirmed in the formal agreement.

Category Item Royalty
Read-only Hardware
  • DVD-Video Player
  • DVD-ROM Drive
  • DVD-Audio Player
  • DVD-Multi Player
or any combination thereof		 4% of the net selling price or US$4.00, whichever is greater.
  • DVD-Video Decoder
 4% of the net selling price or US$1.00, whichever is greater.
Recordable Hardware
  • DVD-RAM Drive
  • DVD-RW Drive
  • DVD-R Drive
  • DVD-Video Recorder
  • DVD-Multi Recorder
or any combination thereof 		4% of the net selling price or US$6.00, whichever is greater.
  • DVD-Video Encoder
 4% of the net selling price or US$ 1.50, whichever is greater.
Read-only Media
  • DVD-ROM Disc
  • DVD-Video Disc
 US¢6.5 per disc.
  • DVD-Audio Disc
 US¢7.5 per disc.
Recordable Media
  • DVD-RAM Disc
  • DVD-RW Disc
  • DVD-R Disc
Case 		For Discs, 4% of the net selling price or US¢7.5, whichever is greater. For Cases, 4% of the net selling price or US¢0.5, whichever is greater.

For further information on Recordable DVD licenses, contact one of the regional contacts.

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