DVD6C revises licensing scheme to lower royalty costs

The DVD6C Licensing Group has changed its DVD patent licensing program from packaged licensing to product category-based licensing, and reduced royalty rates for certain product categories.

The revised program will be in effect retroactively to Jan. 1, 2005.

The DVD6C group comprises seven DVD developers, including Hitachi Ltd, IBM Corp., Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd, Mitsubishi Electric Corp., Toshiba Corp., Victor Company of Japan Ltd. (JVC), and Warner Home Video Inc.

The revised licensing program divides DVD products into 14 categories and allows licensees to select a certain category. That is, if a licensee company intends to sell only DVD-video players, it needs to pay the royalty only for the DVD-video player.

Compared to DVD6C's former patent licensing scheme where licensees paid royalties for the entire DVD package, the new licensing program should prove advantageous for licensees, according to a Toshiba spokeswoman representing DVD6C.

- Yoshiko Hara

EE Times