Philips nullifies +R/RW royalty cuts for disc manfacturers

We reported that earlier this month the DVD+RW alliance had negotiated with disc manufacturers to lower royalties on +R/RW media to better compete with the -R/RW format. Well Philips has refuted this action saying that neither the DVD+RW alliance nor Ricoh have the right to negotiate royality prices on behalf of Philips.

Ricoh was the member of the DVD+RW alliance which fronted the negotiations with disc manufacturers to lower the royalties charged per disc from US$0.06 to US$0.04 per disc. Philips pointed out that it does not have any cross licensing agreements with either Ricoh or the DVD+RW alliance which is only there to promote the +R/RW format. This means that the recent negotiations to lower royalties are pretty much null and void and that the royalty pricing stays at US$0.06 per disc.

Philips Electronics does not currently plan to lower its DVD+R/+RW disc royalty charge of US$0.06 and the company stated that neither Ricoh nor the DVD+RW Alliance has the right to negotiate prices on its behalf, according to James Li, general manager of Philips Intellectual Property & Standards in Taiwan. Li was responding to a recent report stating that Ricoh represented the DVD+RW Alliance, of which Philips is a member, in negotiations with Taiwan-based optical disc makers to reduce the DVD+R/+RW royalty charge from US$0.06 to US$0.04 per disc. Philips does not have any cross-licensing agreements with Ricoh and the DVD+RW Alliance is a business-promotion organization, so neither can negotiate royalty charges on Philips' behalf, Li clarified.

Looks like the DVD+RW alliance doesnt have as much power as it would like to make out, it seems Philips is in total control.

Source: Digitimes