Dear Madam/Sir:
In October 1997, six of the leading developers of DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) technology; Hitachi, Ltd., Matsushita Electric Industrial Ca., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Time Warner Inc., Toshiba Corporation, and Victor Company of Japan, Limited., announced that they will introduce a joint patent licensing program for DVD-Video and DVD-ROM in order to facilitate the worldwide introduction of DVD on an expeditious basis. The six companies are now ready to offer detailed terms and conditions of the joint patent licensing program to those who are interested in taking the license.
The joint patent licensing program offers for a license a package of essential patents owned by the six companies, giving licensees the maximum benefits, conveniences and efficiencies of one-stop shopping. The six companies authorized Toshiba to execute the licensing program, in cooperation with Matsushita and Hitachi who will assist its licensing activities on a regional basis. Toshiba acts as the regional window for the area of Japan, Europe, and Africa for this purpose.
The DVD joint patent licensing program is available on the following conditions:
- A package of the essential DVD-Video and DVD-ROM patents owned by the six companies is licensed for those products which are compliant with the DVD-Video and DVD-ROM formats made by the DVD Forum.
- Royalties of 4%,with a minimum royalty of US$4, will be charged for DVD-Video player and DVD-ROM drive.
- Royalties of 4%,with a minimum royalty of US$1, will be charged for DVD decoder.
- Royalties of US 7.5 cent per disc will be charged for DVD-Video and DVD-ROM disc.
Please note that this patent licensing program does not cover MPEG-2 patents and CSS patents, which are licensed through separate entities.
Please also note that the DVD-Video and DVD-ROM patents owned by each of the six companies are also available to you for a license pursuant to separate negotiations with each company on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms and conditions.
If you are interested in taking a license under the joint patent licensing program, please complete the attached form and return the same to the following address. Upon receipt of the form, we will send you our proposed license agreement.
 Contact here
If you have any questions on this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the above.
With best regards,
Attachment.
Application Form for the DVD Patent Joint Licensing Program
Please fill in the following and return it to us.
- Please provide the name, address, fax and telephone numbers, and e-mail address of the party which will enter into the license agreement.
- Please provide the name, address, fax and telephone numbers and e-mail address of the person to whom we can contact for this matter.
- If your company already has started production of DVD-Video players, DVD-ROM drives, DVD decoders, or DVD-Video/DVD-ROM discs, please provide the following information for each of these categories of products:
(1) Starting date of production
(2) Country(ires) or area(s) where the production takes place
(3) The volume of the products manufactured so far.
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