March 1, 2010
BD4C Joint Patent Licensing Program
Dear Madam/Sir:
On behalf of the BD4C Patent Licensing Group (“BD4C”), we are pleased to offer your company a portfolio license that covers essential patents for certain BD formats. The members of BD4C – Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Thomson Licensing (S.A.S), Toshiba Corporation, and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. – collectively own or control hundreds of essential BD and DVD patents for these BD formats. We offer a portfolio license to all of the essential patents owned or controlled by BD4C members for players, recorders, drives, encoders, decoders and discs implementing the BD-ROM, BD-Video, BD-R, BD-RE and BD/DVD hybrid formats, as applicable, including any of the foregoing BD products that incorporate DVD functionality.
All companies that practice these patents, including in the manufacture of players, recorders, drives, encoders, decoders and discs, must be licensed. BD4C Joint Patent Licensing Program offers an efficient means to be licensed and, therefore, to avoid patent infringement, by offering a package of essential patents owned or controlled by the four members. The members of BD4C have authorized Toshiba to grant portfolio licenses on their behalf.
BD4C licensees have the option of selecting portfolio licenses for particular categories of products, as listed below. Each of these licenses covers all essential patents owned or controlled by the BD4C members for the particular category(ies) of products listed below and selected by the licensee, but not any patents that are not essential for the category(ies) of products chosen.
The royalty rates applicable to the portfolio license and the optional licenses available for particular categories of products (should you select one or more licenses for the categories of products listed below) are as follows:
| Category | Royalty |
|---|---|
| BD-Video Players | US$4.50 per player |
| BD-Video Combo Players | US$6.00 per player |
| BD-ROM Drives | US$4.00 per drive |
| BD-ROM Combo Drives | US$5.00 per drive |
| BD-ROM Discs | US$0.04 per disc |
| BD/DVD Hybrid Discs (including BD/DVD Hybrid ROM Discs and BD/DVD Hybrid Video Discs) |
US$0.08 per disc |
| BD-Video Discs | US$0.04 per disc |
| BD Decoders | US$1.00 per decoder, with an annual cap of US$10,000,000 |
| BD-Video Recorders | US$7.00 per recorder |
| BD-Video Combo Recorders | US$6.00 per recorder |
| BD Recordable Disc Drives | US$6.00 per drive |
| BD Combo Recordable Disc Drives | US$5.00 per drive |
| BD Encoders | US$1.50 per encoder, with an annual cap of US$15,000,000 |
| BD-R Discs | US$0.065 per disc |
| BD-RE Discs | US$0.09 per disc |
Please note that the BD4C license does not include patents solely relating to video or audio compression (including without limitation MPEG-2, AVC/H.264 or VC-1 video compression, or AC-3, Dolby Digital, Dolby True HD, DTS or DTS-HD audio compression) or content protection (including without limitation “CSS” (Content Scramble System), “CPPM” (Copyright Protection for Pre-recorded Media), “CPRM” (Copyright Protection for Recordable Media), “AACS” (Advanced Access Content System) or BD-ROM Mark or BD+ content protection systems) that may be applicable to BD products. Additionally, such BD Patents shall not include patents directed solely to communication protocols listed in the “References” section of the BD specifications (and HTTP specifically) unless such patents are essential for an application described in the BD-Live specification.
If you are interested in taking a license under this Joint Patent Licensing Program with respect to any of the categories set forth above, please complete the attached form and return the same to the following address:
[ CONTACT ADDRESS ]
Upon receipt of the form, we will send you the BD4C Patent License Agreement.
If you would like to inquire about the availability of a license to a category of products not included in this letter, or to fewer than all of the essential patents for any product category listed above, please write to the BD4C regional licensing representative at the address set forth above. In this respect, please note that BD4C may not be able to make all particular licenses requested available on a portfolio basis and reserves the right to refer the company making the request to the individual members of BD4C, each of which has committed to making any of its essential patents for the product categories listed above available for licensing on fair, reasonable and nondiscriminatory terms.
This letter is without prejudice to any and all rights of the members of BD4C, all of which are expressly reserved.
If you have any questions relating to this matter, please do not hesitate to contact the above.
With best regards,
Attachment. Application Form [PDF:62KB]
