As we've reported in the past, Taiwanese disc manufacturers have not been happy with Philips' Veeza licensing system. According to DigiTimes, four of the country's top manufacturers have now filed a complaint with the FTC claiming that Veeza violates their Fair Trade Law.
CMC Magnetics, Ritek, Prodisc Technology and Daxon Technology, the top four makers of CD-R discs in Taiwan, jointly filed a legal complaint with Taiwan's Fair Trade Commission (FTC) on June 5 against Philips for its Veeza CD-R patent licensing scheme, claiming that it violates Taiwan's Fair Trade Law, according to the Taiwan Information Storage Association (TISA) on behalf of the four companies.
In response, Philips Taiwan indicated that it has not received notification from the FTC and therefore knows nothing about the complaint. This is the first time CMC and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs in Taiwan, have taken action in protest against Philips' licensing program, industry sources pointed out. The joint complaint is aimed at forcing Philips to set reasonable CD-R patent licensing conditions, noted the sources.
Its going to be interesting to see what happens with this. Traditionally, Philips isn't one you want to mess with, especially when it comes to licensing. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes.