MPEG LA announced this week that a meeting between the various HD DVD patent owners was held on September 11. The purpose of this
meeting was to create a joint patent license. While progress was reportedly made, the MPEG LA is looking for input from interested
parties.
MPEG LA announced today that the first meeting of essential HD DVD patent owners, currently consisting of 16
companies, was held in Los Angeles on September 11 for the purpose of creating a joint license providing fair, reasonable,
non-discriminatory access to essential patents, as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses. Initial participating companies
include LG Electronics Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; NEC Corporation; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.;
SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.; Sonic Solutions; TDK Corporation; Thomson Licensing; Toshiba Corporation; Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.(JVC);
and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.
“MPEG LA applauds the extraordinary cooperation of so many diverse companies working
together to come up with an efficient way for users of the multitude of patents employed in HD DVD devices, discs and related
implementations to address their licensing needs,” said MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn. “And the substantial progress made in this initial
meeting bodes well for achieving it.”
According to MPEG LA's press release, additional patent holder meetings are
planned, and work on the joint license will continue. More information can be found here.
