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Optical Storage
After four years, the court battle between Philips and media manufacturers, Princo and Gigastorage, seems to be over. On February 5th, the US International Trade Commission (ITC) issued a final ruling in favor of Philips, stating that the two companies infringed on six of Philips' patents. The ITC also issued a general exclusion order, banning the import of any unlicensed CD-R and CD-RW discs that infringe on the patents.
Royal Philips Electronics (AEX:PHI; NYSE:PHG) announced today that in a patent infringement case between Philips Electronics and CD-Recordable and CD-Re-writable disc manufacturers including Princo and Gigastorage, the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled positively in granting a general exclusion order prohibiting the unlicensed importation into the United States of recordable and rewritable compact discs that infringe any of the six patents asserted by Philips. Philips welcomes this positive step in its continuous effort to stop the import of illegal CD-R/RW discs into the US, which creates unfair competition in the recordable disc market.

Philips filed this case with the ITC in 2002 seeking to prevent unlicensed CD-R and CD-RW discs from entering the United States. The ITC had found in March 2004 that six Philips patents were valid and infringed by the manufacturers, but also determined that the patents were unenforceable because of patent misuse. After Philips appealed the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (CAFC) held that the ITC's legal analysis was incorrect and remanded the case to the ITC for further proceedings consistent with its opinion.
Needless to say, it's good to see this court case finally come to an end. If you'd like to read more, Phillips' entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Apricorn has announced a new ultra portable drive, the EZ Writer DVD LS. While weighing less than a pound, the EZ Writer DVD LS packs support for dual layer recording and LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling.
Apricorn, (www.apricorn.com) the leader in personal storage, today released its latest product, the EZ Writer DVD LS, an ultra portable optical drive featuring LightScribe Direct Disc Labeling and Dual Layer recording. Weighing just 12 ounces, the EZ Writer DVD LS optical drive offers a sleek, all-inclusive and portable solution for burning, playing and labeling your own DVDs and CDs.

The EZ Writer's new dual layer recording engine enables the user to record up to 8.5GB of data per DVD, virtually doubling data storage capacity on a DVD recordable disc from the single layer recording capacity of 4.7 GBs. This enables users to record four hours of DVD quality video, 16 hours of VHS quality video or up to 8.5GB of files, perfect for storing data, music, movies and MP3s.
The EZ Writer DVD LS is available now for a suggested retail price of $139. More information can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
Philips has announced that they've sold its Optical Media & Technology (OM&T) activities to Moser Baer India. Under the agreement, all intellectual property created by OM&T will be transferred to Moser Baer.
The sale of OM&T is part of Philips' program to divest certain components businesses, which have to that end been placed in its Corporate Investments portfolio. This transaction represents another step Philips is taking to focus on its Healthcare, Lifestyle and Technology activities supported by the strength of the company's brand.

OM&T employs approximately 50 people in Eindhoven and had turnover in 2006 of approximately EUR 10 million. The transfer of ownership to Moser Baer is effectuated retroactively from January 1, 2007.
According to other sources, Moser Baer hopes that by purchasinging OM&T, they can jump start their Blu-ray media business. More information about the acquisition is available on Philips' website. Add a comment

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Lite-On IT reportedly plans to establish a new subsidiary in China. According to an article at DigiTimes, this new subsidiary will focus on the "production and marketing of electronic devices and components".
Lite-On IT will invest US$2 million to establish a new subsidiary in China through its overseas subsidiary High Yield Group (BVI) for the production and marketing of electronic devices and components, according to a filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE) on February 5. The corporate name will be determined at a later date.

Lite-On IT's board of directors, at a meeting on February 5, approved the investment in China, and in addition gave the OK to invest a further nine million euro in Lite-On IT's subsidiary in the Netherlands.
Lite-On already manufactures many of their products in China so I'm not sure how they will benefit from this subsidiary. If you'd like more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
Earlier this week, LG Electronics sent out a press release, announcing that their Super Multi Blue Player is available at retail stores in the US. For those that have been living in a cave for the past month, the BH100 is the first player on the market with the capability to play titles in both Blu-ray and HD DVD formats.
LG Electronics today confirmed that U.S. consumers can now purchase the industry's first dual- format high-definition (HD) disc player at U.S. retailers.

Unveiled less than a month ago at the 2007 International CES(R), the LG "Super Multi Blue" Player (model BH100) is now available at national retail stores, such as Best Buy, Circuit City and CompUSA, as well as regional retailers and local dealers.

With LG Electronics' Super Multi Blue Player, consumers now have the convenience and flexibility of playing both Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD high- definition content. The unit blends both technologies for a consumer-focused solution to address the challenges and consumer confusion of the current HD disc format war.
The BH100 currently goes for about $1199. If you'd like to read more, LG's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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Home Entertainment
According to the Financial Times, the DVD Download format has been approved by the DVD Forum who's members include Hollywood heavyweights like Columbia, Sony, Universal, Walt Disney and Warner Brothers. Developed for download-and-burn services and in store kiosks, the DVD Download format incorporates a content protection system to prevent unauthorized copying.
Shops only have room for a few hundred top-selling titles on their shelves but DVD Download kiosks being introduced this year will be able to access thousands of digitised movies, burn them to disks and print labels and covers.

Film studios' concerns over possible illegal copying of the disks had been a sticking point for the launch of the kiosks.

These fears have been overcome by the same content protection system already used on pre-recorded DVDs. This is being incorporated into the new standard, known as DVD-R for CSS Managed Recording, or "DVD Download", according to its new logo. DVD-R is the format of the blank recordable media and CSS is the Content Scramble System of encryption that will be used.
While CSS will keep the average Joe from making copies, we all know that it can be easily circumvented using downloadable utilities. Most likely, we'll be seeing other copy protections being used, like Macrovisions RipGuard and ACP technologies. If you'd like to read more, the entire article can be found here. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
With Japanese manufactucturers focusing on Blu-ray and HD DVD drives, Taiwanese manufacturers expected them to place OEM orders for slim DVD burners. Unfortunately, due to the low demand for slim-type Blu-ray and HD DVD writers, these orders will most likely be delayed.
NEC, HLDS (Hitachi-LG Data Storage) and Matsushita Electric Industrial, the top three Japan-based suppliers of slim-type DVD burners for use in notebook PCs, are likely to push back the release of OEM orders to Taiwanese makers, mainly Quanta Storage and Lite-On IT, because the global demand for slim-type next-generation blue-laser burners will not take off this year as originally expected, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

Japanese suppliers of half-height (H/H) DVD burners (for use in desktop PCs) have increasingly focused their self-production on Blu-ray Disc (BD) and/or HD DVD burners and released OEM orders for DVD burners to Taiwanese makers, and the same situation was originally expected to happen to slim-type DVD burners, the sources indicated.
If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage
DigiTimes has reported that Ritek and CMC Magnetics plan to suspend their optical disc production during the Chinese New Year so that they can perform their annual maintenance.
Although tight supply of CD-R discs has become worse since the second half of 2006, the top two Taiwan-based optical disc makers, CMC Magnetics and Ritek, have still decided to schedule their annual maintenance during the Chinese New Year, with second-tier players Prodisc Technology, Gigastorage and Lead Data expected to continue running their lines during the period.
This decision is expected to have a negative effect on the world's already tight supply of CD-R and DVD+R/-R media. For consumers, this probably means more price hikes in the near future. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Panasonic has announced that it will be estabalishing a Blu-ray testing center in Hollywood. To help accelerate the release of Blu-ray Disc titles, the facility will offer a number of services, including content verification and playback testing.
Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (NYSE: MC - News) known for its leading Panasonic brand, today announced that its U.S. subsidiary, Panasonic Corporation of North America, will establish a Panasonic Hollywood Blu-ray Testing Center (PHBTC) within the existing facilities of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory and start testing services immediately.

Blu-ray Discs feature strong copyright protection technology, and conducting logical format verification of entertainment content in replicated BD-Video discs requires technical sophistication. Until now there has been no testing service available for content verification before disc replication although many in the motion picture industry expressed the need for a testing center to provide such services, especially in the Hollywood area. The new Panasonic testing center, PHBTC, meets the industry's need and is expected to accelerate the release of BD-Video titles by the motion picture industry.
If you want to read more, Panasonic's entire press release can be found here. Add a comment

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