Optical disc maker CMC Magnetics has reached a settlement with Matsushita Electric Industrial (Panasonic) over a DVD patent infringement lawsuit filed by Matsushita in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California in July 2006, with CMC also obtaining additional licensed use of Matsushita's patents related to DVD-RAM, DVD-R/-RW.

The settlement will help CMC increase its global market share, the company emphasized. However, CMC declined to reveal any information on the conditions for the settlement, especially compensation for Matsushita, because of a non-disclosure agreement.

Philips and Sony own most of all key patents concerning DVD discs, while a minor portion of the patents is held by Japanese firms including Matsushita.

While Hitachi-LG, Toshiba-Samsung, Lite-on IT and Japanese brands have been making efforts to lower production costs of Blu-ray Disc and HD DVD burners to promote the adoption of the two blue-laser standards, CMC Magnetics and Ritek, the top two makers of optical discs, are comparatively conservative about investing in the production of blank BD-R and/or HD DVD-R discs to match the potential demand for such burners, according to industry sources in Taiwan.

While CMC and Ritek are capable of producing blank BD and HD DVD discs, Sony, Mitsubishi Kagaku Media (MKM) and TDK currently dominate the global supply of such discs, the sources indicated.

As writing speeds of BD and HD DVD burners are expected to be upgraded from 2.4-4x currently to 6-8x and major brands may launch price competition in the second half of 2007, CMC's and Ritek's conservative attitude may result in a lag in the global supply of blank BD and HD DVD discs, the source pointed out. (Source: digitimes).

Story filed 08.04.07