When you are producing a product that uses technology developed by another company it is normal that you pay so called royalities, this a fee that should cover the development costs of the product.
In some countries they don't really care about royalities and they make products based on a technology without paying them. It seems that DVD developers however now are getting where they have the legal rights for:
The basic accord isn't legally binding, but Chinese makers producing and selling DVD players without paying royalty fees are likely to each sign a contract and pay fees, Kyodo reported they said. |
The six firms are Hitachi Ltd. (J.HIT), Toshiba Corp. (J.TOS), Mitsubishi Electric Corp. (J.MBE), Matsushita Electric Industrial Co . (J.MET) and Victor Company of Japan Ltd. (J.VIC), as well as AOL Time-Warner Inc. (AOL) of the U.S, Kyodo said.
The companies have been in negotiations with the China Electronic Acoustic Equipment Association, which represents Chinese DVD makers, since last month.
Kyodo reported the sources said the six companies consider the basic agreement as a step toward resolving the problem.
They are also considering charging royalties not only on DVD players to be manufactured from now on, but also on those produced in the past, they added.
This only has one bad side, I guess these (mostly) cheap DVD players are getting a little more expensive to consumers
Source: Yahoo.com
