26th Feb 09
Blu ray promoters tie-up to sell
all the related IP through one shop
With Blu ray discs sales expected to reach 100 million in
2009, the three consumer electronic biggies Philips, Panasonic
and Sony are together working with other Blu ray disc patent
holders to establish a new company to sell all the IPs related
to Blu ray disc players.
The one-stop-shop license for Blu-ray Disc products covers
essential patents for Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD, will be
introduced in the middle of this year. The new independent
licensing company will be based in the U.S. with branch
offices in Asia, Europe and Latin America. The CEO of the
new license company is Mr. Gerald Rosenthal, former head
of IP at IBM and more recently CEO of Open Invention Network.
"By establishing a new licensing entity that offers
a single license for Blu-ray Disc products at attractive
rates, I am confident that it will foster the growth of
the Blu-ray Disc market and serve the interest of all companies
participating in this market, be it as licensee or licensor."
said Mr. Rosenthal.
This idea is to stimulate the growth of the market for
Blu-ray Disc products.
Any holder of essential patents for Blu-ray Disc, DVD and
CD patents is invited to join this licensing entity as a
licensor and also as shareholder.
The fees for the new product licenses are US$9.50 for a
Blu-ray Disc player and US$14.00 for a Blu-ray Disc recorder.
The per disc license fees for Blu-ray Disc will be US$0.11
for a read only disc, US$0.12 for a recordable disc and
US$0.15 for a rewritable disc. As a result of the efficiencies
obtained with the combined license offering, the royalty
rates for Blu-ray Disc products are expected to be at least
40% lower than the current cumulative royalty rates for
individual Blu-ray Disc, DVD and CD format licenses.
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