6.1 Who invented DVD and who owns it? Whom to contact for specificationsand licensing?
Description
This article is from the DVD Formats FAQ, by jtfrog@usa.net (Jim Taylor) with numerous contributions by others.
6.1 Who invented DVD and who owns it? Whom to contact for specificationsand licensing?
DVD is the work of many companies and many people. There were originally
two next-generation standards for DVD. The MMCD format was backed by Sony,
Philips, and others. The competing SD format was backed by Toshiba,
Matsushita, Time Warner, and others. A group of computer companies led by
IBM insisted that the factions agree on a single standard. The combined DVD
format was announced in September of 1995, avoiding a confusing and costly
repeat of the VHS vs. BetaMax videotape battle or the quadraphonic sound
battle of the 1970s.
No single company "owns" DVD. The official specification was developed by a
consortium of ten companies: Hitachi, JVC, Matsushita, Mitsubishi, Philips,
Pioneer, Sony, Thomson, Time Warner, and Toshiba. Representatives from many
other companies also contributed in various working groups. In May 1997,
the Consortium was replaced by the DVD Forum, which is open to all
companies (more info at <http://www.dvdforum.com>). See section 6.2 or
visit Robert's DVD Info page <http://www.unik.no/~robert/hifi/dvd/> for
links to Web sites of companies working with DVD.
The official DVD specification books are available from Toshiba after
signing a nondisclosure agreement and paying a $5,000 fee. One book is
included in the initial fee; additional books are $500 each. Contact
Licensing Operations Group, Toshiba Corporation +81-3-3457-2643, fax
+81-3-5444-9430. ECMA has developed international standards for DVD-ROM
(part 1, the smallest part of the DVD spec), available for free download as
ECMA-267 and ECMA-268 from www.ecma.ch. ECMA has also standardized DVD-R in
ECMA-279, DVD-RAM in ECMA-272 and ECMA-273, and DVD+RW as ECMA-274 (see
4.3). Unfortunately, ECMA has the annoying habit of spelling "disc" wrong.
Also confusing, if you're not from Europe, is ECMA's use of a comma instead
of a period for the decimal point.
Implementation of DVD products and use of the DVD logo for non-promotional
purposes requires additional $10,000 format and logo licenses. Contact
Toshiba DVD Business Promotion and Support: +81-3-5444-9580, fax
+81-3-5444-9430.
The specification for the UDF file system used by DVD is available from
www.osta.org.
Any company making DVD products must license the patented technology from a
Philips/Pioneer/Sony pool, a Hitachi/Matsushita/Mitsubishi/Time
Warner/Toshiba/Victor pool, and from Thomson. Total royalties are about 6%
(minimum $6) for a DVD-Video player, 6% (minimum $6) for a DVD-ROM drive,
5% (minimum $2) for a DVD decoder, and 10 cents for a DVD disc.
The licensor of CSS encryption technology is DVD CCA (Copy Control
Association), a non-profit trade association with offices at 225 B Cochrane
Circle, Morgan Hill, CA. Send license requests to css-license@lmicp.com,
technical info requests to css-info@lmicp.com. Before December 15, 1999,
CSS licensing was administered on an interim basis by Matsushita.
Macrovision licenses its analog anti-recording technology free of charge to
hardware makers, but charges a per-copy royalty to content publishers (2 to
4 cents per disc).
An MPEG-2 patent license may also be required, from MPEG LA (MPEG Licensing
Adminstrator). Cost is about $4 for a DVD player or decoder card and 4
cents for each DVD disc, although there seems to be disagreement on whether
content producers owe royalties for discs.
Dolby licenses Dolby Digital decoders for $0.26 per channel.
Continue to:
My Books
