Notification of a licensing system

United Kingdom

The European Commission has received a notification of a patent licensing programme from the following companies: Hitachi, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Time Warner, Toshiba Corporation, Victor Company of Japan. The licensing system concerns patents essential to implementing the Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) technology. This is a system for high-density optical storage of data which are read through an optical read-out beam. According to the agreements, Toshiba is granted a world-wide exclusive licence and, in turn, will grant non-exclusive licences to any firm wishing to implement the DVD specifications. (OJ C242 27.08.99)