Toshiba prices up Blu-ray Disc patent portfolio
Pools tech resources with Warner, Thomson and Mitsubishi
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Consumer electronics and entertainment companies Mitsubishi, Thomson, Toshiba and Warner Bros have together begun charging for their intellectual property that is "essential" to Blu-ray Disc players, drives and recorders.
The four firms' pooled technology also extends to Blu-ray kit that incorporates DVD functionality, including hybrid BD/DVD media, they said. It also covers components that decode and encode the data stored on Blu-ray discs - and the discs themselves.
The new tariff would add at least $7 (£4.62) to the price of a DVR with a built-in Blu-ray recorder, $5 (£3.30) to the price of a combo BD player/DVD burner of the kind found in many PCs these days, and $4.50 (£2.97) to the cost of a BD player, such as the PlayStation 3.
Licenses for the patent portfolio will be available for products that comply with the Blu-ray Disc specifications as maintained by the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA), the four said.
Individually, the fees are not large, of course, but they are likely to amount to substantial revenues for the four companies and their BD4C Licensing Group offshoot, which will collect and share the royalties.
BD4C will be operated by Toshiba which, having once opposed the Blu-ray format with its own HD DVD offering, has, in the years since it killed the failed format off, leapt into the BD world with renewed vigour.
It asked to join the BDA in August 2009, and its second, entry-level BD player will be out in the UK in May.
The companies said the BD4C Licensing Group "reserves the right to adjust the rates as necessary to encourage the broad participation in the programme by interested companies with essential patents".
That's a call to other relevant IP holders to add their technology to the pool. ®
| Category | Royalty |
| BD-Video Disc | $0.04 per disc |
| BD-ROM Disc | $0.04 per disc |
| BD-R Disc | $0.065 per disc |
| BD-RE Disc | $0.09 per disc |
| BD/DVD Hybrid Disc
(including BD/DVD Hybrid ROM Discs and BD/DVD Hybrid Video Discs) |
$0.08 per disc |
| BD Decoder | $1.00 per decoder, with an annual cap of $10,000,000 |
| BD Encoder | $1.50 per encoder, with an annual cap of $15,000,000 |
| BD-Video Player | $4.50 per player |
| BD-Video Combo Player | $6.00 per player |
| BD Video Recorder | $7.00 per recorder |
| BD-Video Combo Recorder | $6.00 per recorder |
| BD-ROM Drive | $4.00 per drive |
| BD Recordable Disc Drive | $6.00 per drive |
| BD-ROM Combo Drive | $5.00 per drive |
| BD Combo Recordable Disc Drive | $5.00 per drive |
COMMENTS
Intellectual "Property"
"Open standards be damned!"
"Let aloose the DRM!"
"Where's me patents?"
"I plunder all yer hard-earned booty, ya scurvy lubbers!"
"Yarrr!"
@Physical media dead
No
Physical media is dying a slow death - which started a couple of years ago during the format wars
Too true
The writing is on the wall and the niche for discs is going to be small. Companies like Netflix are preparing for the transition and the last holdouts are going to be in those few loosely connected spaces, which are getting fewer every day. Sure, there will always be the video/game vending/rental machine at the front of the supermarket for that last minute impulse but what else is left? Physical media is fading fast and the last standing are hdd and flash drives, with the latter fast becoming king of the hill given its versatility. The trend seems clear, first floppys died, then CDs and soon DVDs will follow. Will BD be still born? Perhaps. Where do BD hold a competitive advantage? Right now, simple DVDs are half or less the price, by gigabyte, of BD. Not much compelling there and raising the price of a BD by about the price of a DVD doesn't help.
It seems pretty clear, if you're putting out a fire, do you want a bigger bucket or a fire hose?
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