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Optical Storage

27 October 2006

Imation has announced that they've filed a Declaratory Judgment Action, asking the court to reaffirm a cross-licensing agreement between two companies. According to their press release, Philips has tried to interfere with Imation's suppliers, despite the existing agreement.

Imation Corp (NYSE: IMN) today announced that it has filed a Declaratory Judgment Action in the Federal District Court in St. Paul, Minn., requesting that the court resolve an ongoing dispute with Philips Electronics N.V., U.S. Philips Corporation, and North American Philips Corporation (collectively "Philips"). The action requests that the court reaffirm Imation's cross-licensing rights related to various optical products, including recordable and rewritable CD and DVD discs, based on a long-standing agreement between Imation and Philips.

Imation's cross-licensing agreement with Philips allows Imation to make, have made and sell various optical media products including CD and DVD discs. Based on Imation's cross-licensing rights under the existing agreement, Imation's action asks the court to stop Philips' recent attempts to interfere with Imation's ongoing business relationships with its customers and suppliers.

This is most likely due to Philips' Veeza licensing scheme. As we've reported in the past, Philips is trying to bar imports of non-Veeza discs in some of the world's major markets. More information can be found on Imation's website. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

26 October 2006

Here's some surprising news. Due to diminishing profits, Lite-On has decided to stop selling consumer ODD products under the Lite-On brand name.

Lite-On IT, the largest Taiwan-based maker of optical disc drives (ODDs), on October 25 reported its financial results for the third quarter of this year, posting a very small net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.033. The company also announced it has decided to stop production of consumer ODDs, mainly DVD recorders, to be sold under its Liteon brand in the global market, while keeping OEM/ODM production of such products.

Lite-On IT's average gross margin dropped from 16.7% in the first half of this year to 13.2% last quarter. Three main reasons for this were the following: the ongoing integration of Lite-On IT's own operating resources with those of BenQ's ODD business unit (acquired by Lite-On IT in April 2006); delays in R&D works on Blu-ray Disc drives, slim-type ODDs and Xbox ODDs; losses due to consumer returns of own-brand DVD recorders sold through the Wal-Mart chain, according to company CEO Danny Liao.

It really isn't clear whether this includes all of Lite-On's ODD products or just their DVD recorders. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes.

Update - Thanks to the Dutch website, Tweakers.net, we've learned that this only applies to Lite-On's standalone DVD recorders. Here's a translation (thanks RJW):

A moment ago Dutch Lite-On IT have communicated us that the source article of DigiTimes contained an incorrect reproduction of the facts. The brand Lite-On is still alive. Lite-On will definatly not stop with selling dvd - and cd-burners under its own brand, thus spokesman Maarten Souren. Only the standalone dvd-recorders that are sold under the lite on brand, will be removed from the Lite-On-catalog according to him.

So there you have it. Lite-On will continue to produce PC-based CD and DVD writers. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

27 October 2006

DigiTimes has reported that Sony plans to stop selling optical drives for the PC some time in 2007. The company will instead focus on optical devices, like their DVDirect series, that are not dependent upon PC's.

With the view that the market for PC optical disc drives (ODDs) in Taiwan is approaching saturation, as seen by the NT$1,500 (US$45) price for 16x DVD burners, Sony Taiwan indicated it will shift its marketing toward optical disc devices not dependent on PCs, according to Sony Taiwan.

Although half-height DVD burner technology has advanced to 18x writing speeds and will be upgraded further to 20x next year, demand for DVD burners is not expected to increase, local industry sources pointed out.

I can't say I'm too surprised. It's hard to justify buying one of Sony's drives when you can essentially get the same thing, sold under another brand for half the cost. If you'd like to read more, head on over to DigiTimes. Add a comment

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Optical Storage

25 October 2006

Ever wonder how HD DVD and Blu-ray media was manufactured? You're in luck. Imation Corp has released a new video titled "Imation: Into the Blue". The video includes a brief tour of Imation's Discovery Center and shows how high-definition media is manufactured.

Two versions of "Imation: Into the Blue" are available: a 5 minute streaming video clip and a 14 minute video podcast. If you have the bandwidth and the time, I highly recommend the podcast as it includes some great footage of the manufacturing process. Add a comment