Chinese companies sue patent-holders over DVD royalties
posted January 25th 2005 2:20AM
Two Chinese companies, Wuxi Multimedia and Orient Power (Wuxi) Technology, have filed a lawsuit against the 3C Patent Group, saying it has violated U.S. antitrust laws. The 3C group is a consortium owned by Sony, Philips and Pioneer that manages DVD patent rights. At the crux of the case is a $20-per-unit patent fee, which manufacturers say unfairly impacts their ability to keep prices down for their DVD players. The $20 fee was hammered out several years ago, in order to stop sales of unlicensed Chinese DVD players. However, now that prices for players have plummeted, the fee accounts for as much as half of the manufacturers' wholesale costs. Of course, in many ways, the case is already moot, as manufacturers are already gearing up for the high-definition market, and Chinese and Taiwanese companies continue to push home-grown formats such as EVD and FVD to avoid patent fees.
Interesting stuff dude!
They charge too much, I hope HD-DVD wins.
now Chinese companies can feel what it's like to have their intellectual property rights unenforced. HA HA
I'm surprised they just don;t make the players and ignore the payments. Afterall, with rampant governmant backed IP theft in China who'd notice?
this is for the US market
obviously chinese cant win cuz we the scare american companies and rich people