Four leading companies – Mitsubishi Electric, Thomson Licensing, Toshiba and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment – have formed the BD4C Licensing Group for the joint global licensing of Blu-ray and DVD patents essential for the whole range of BD discs and devices.

“The potential licensees will benefit from one-stop shopping for the essential patents owned or controlled by the four companies, which will facilitate the development of the BD market,” says the communiqué.

The license portfolio consists of BD and DVD patents, owned or controlled by the four companies, that are essential for BD products, namely Blu-ray decoders, encoders, recorders, players, read-only discs, recordable discs, drives and BD/DVD hybrid discs. Licenses for the portfolio will be available for products that comply with the specifications for the BD formats promulgated by the Blu-ray Disc Association.

Interested parties are also free to negotiate separate license agreements, rather than taking a single portfolio license, with each of the four companies, which have committed to provide such licenses for their respective essential patents under fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms and conditions.

Perhaps because it is already managing the DVD6C join licensing programme, Toshiba will act as licensor for the BD4C Licensing Group.

Royalties under the terms of the portfolio license are as follows:

Story filed 08.03.10