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| DVD PATENT LICENSE INCENTIVE PROGRAM ANNOUNCED |
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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. |
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Copyright(C) 2002-2005 DVD 6C LICENSING AGENCY All Rights Reserved.
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