MPEG LA Expands Call for HD DVD Patents

In its continued response to marketplace interest in the creation of a joint HD DVD patent license including as much essential intellectual property as possible, MPEG LA, LLC today expanded its call for patents essential to the implementation of the HD DVD Standard to include the following specifications:

1. DVD Specifications for High Density Read-Only Disc (HD DVD-ROM) Part 1 Optional Specifications: Triple Layer Twin Format Disc; and
2. DVD Specifications for High Density Read-Only Disc (HD DVD-ROM) Part 1 Physical Specifications (51 Gbytes).

MPEG LA’s plan for forming a joint patent portfolio license to provide users with fair, reasonable, nondiscriminatory access to the HD DVD technology as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses was first announced in a 9 May 2007 news release.

The inclusion of the DVD Specifications for High Density Read-Only Disc (HD DVD-ROM) Part 1 Optional Specifications: Triple Layer Twin Format Disc and for DVD Specifications for High Density Read-Only Disc (HD DVD-ROM) Part 1 Physical Specifications (51 Gbytes) are in addition to the other parts of the Standard earlier announced.

MPEG LA welcomes any party that believes it has patents which are essential to the HD DVD Standard to submit them for evaluation of their essentiality by MPEG LA’s patent evaluators and participate in the joint license creation process if determined to be essential. Further information, along with terms and procedures governing patent submissions, can be found at http://www.mpegla.com/pid/hddvd. While only issued patents that are essential to the HD DVD Standard will be included in the license, in order to participate in the license development process, patent applications with claims that their owners believe are essential to the HD DVD Standard and likely to issue in a patent also may be submitted for an evaluation of essentiality.