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September 4, 2008
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Dear Madam/Sir:
On behalf of the DVD6C Licensing Group (DVD6C), we are pleased to offer your company a portfolio
license that covers essential patents for certain DVD formats and +R/+RW Disc formats. The members
of DVD6C --- Hitachi Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd (Panasonic), Mitsubishi Electric
Corporation, Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd., Sharp Corporation, Toshiba
Corporation, Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC) and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. ---
collectively own hundreds of essential patents for these DVD formats and +R/+RW Disc formats.
We offer a portfolio license to all of the essential patents owned by DVD6C members for players,
recorders, drives, encoders, decoders, discs and cases implementing the DVD-ROM, DVD-Video,
DVD-Audio, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R and DVD Video Recording formats, and discs implementing the
+R/+RW Disc formats.
All companies that practice these patents, including in the manufacture of players, recorders,
drives, encoders, decoders, discs and disc cases, must be licensed. DVD6C's joint licensing
program offers an efficient means to be licensed and, therefore, to avoid patent infringement,
by offering a package of essential patents owned by the nine members. The nine members of DVD6C
have authorized Toshiba to grant portfolio licenses on their behalf.
Panasonic and Hitachi assist the licensing activities on a regional basis in the Americas,
for Panasonic, and Asia (excluding Japan), Oceania and the Middle East, for Hitachi. Toshiba also
acts as the regional window for Japan, Europe and Africa (including Egypt).
DVD6C licensees have the option of selecting portfolio licenses for particular categories of
products, as listed below. Each of these licenses covers all essential patents owned by the
DVD6C members for the particular category(ies) of products listed below and selected by the
licensee, but not any patents that are not essential for the category(ies) of products chosen.
The royalty rates applicable to the portfolio license and for the optional licenses available
for particular categories of products (should you elect one or more licenses for the categories
of products listed below) are as follows:
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| Category |
New Royalty |
| DVD-Video Player |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$4.00 per player or,
US$3.00 per player on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
US$8.00 at maximum on or after January 1, 2003
|
| DVD-Audio Player |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$4.00 per player or,
US$3.00 per player on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
US$8.00 at maximum on or after January 1, 2003
|
| DVD-ROM Drive |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$4.00 per drive or,
US$3.00 per drive on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
US$8.00 at maximum on or after January 1, 2003
|
| DVD-ROM Disc |
US$0.075 per disc;
US$0.065 per disc on or after January 1, 2002;
US$0.05 per disc on or after January 1, 2004;
US$0.04 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
|
| DVD-Video Disc |
US$0.075 per disc;
US$0.065 per disc on or after January 1, 2002;
US$0.05 per disc on or after January 1, 2004;
US$0.04 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
|
| DVD-Audio Disc |
US$0.075 per disc;
US$0.05 per disc on or after January 1, 2004;
US$0.04 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
|
| DVD Decoder |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$1.00 per decoder
US$0.50 per decoder on or after the effective date of the New DVD6C License
|
| DVD Video Recorder |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$6.00 per recorder
|
| DVD (Recordable Disc) Drive |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$6.00 per drive
|
| DVD Encoder |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$1.50 per decoder
US$0.75 per encoder on or after the effective date of the New DVD6C License
|
| DVD-R Disc |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.075 per disc;
US$0.045 per disc on or after January 1, 2006
|
| DVD-RW Disc |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.075 per disc or,
US$0.065 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
|
| DVD-RAM Disc |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.075 per disc or,
US$0.065 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
|
| Recordable Disc Case |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.005 per case
|
| +R Disc |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.075 per disc, or US$0.045 per disc on or after January 1, 2006
|
| +RW Disc |
The greater of
(i) 4% of the net selling price or
(ii) US$0.075 per disc or, US$0.065 per disc on or after the effective date of the DVD6C license agreement
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Please note that this patent licensing program does not cover MPEG-2 or other digital compression
patents or copy protection patents, which are licensed through separate entities.
If you are interested in taking a license under this joint licensing program with respect to any
of the categories set forth above, please complete the attached form and return the same to the
following address:
[CONTACT ADDRESS]
If you would like to inquire about the availability of a license to a category of products not
included in this letter, or to fewer than all of the essential patents for any product category
listed above, please write to the DVD6C licensing regional contact at the address set forth above.
In this respect, please note that DVD6C may not be able to make all particular licenses requested
available on a portfolio basis and reserves the right to refer the company making the request to
the individual members of DVD6C, each of which has committed to making any of its essential
patents for the product categories listed above available for licensing on fair, reasonable and
nondiscriminatory terms.
[To contact each DVD6C member company, please refer to
Contact Address of Individual License.]
This letter is without prejudice to any and all rights of the members of DVD6C, all of which
are expressly reserved.
If you have any questions relating to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the above.
With best regards,
>>>Attachment. Application Form for New Licensees
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Copyright© 2002-2010 DVD6C LICENSING GROUP. All Rights Reserved.
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