The Optical Storage Industry of the Both Sides of the Strait Promotes Their New Disc Specifications to Shake Off Foreign Manufacturers’ Domination.

The Ministry of Information Industry of China presented the specifications of new generation of Enhanced Versatile Disc (EVD) in November, and cooperated with ten optical storage manufacturers in China to jointly develop new products which were scheduled to enter the market next year. The Finalized Versatile Disc (FVD), which was jointly developed by Opto-Electronics & Systems Laboratories of Industrial Technology Research Institute, Taiwan and Microsoft, was also scheduled for formal presentation at the beginning of next year. Encountering foreign manufacturers’ active demand for royalty in recent days, the optical storage industry across Straits seems to refuse the domination by those foreign manufacturers. Accordingly, the optical storage industry across Straits develops its own specifications.

 

EVD is the next generation product jointly developed by the industry, the government, and the academic organizations in China in 2002. The resolution of EVD equals to five times the present specifications of DVD. EVD is seen as the new product that replaces the specifications of DVD in the coming age of high-resolution digital television, and is also the only self-developed optical storage system of China.

 

3C and 6C, which established the DVD specifications, issued letters to big manufacturers in China to make the demand for the payment for royalties on disc. Rumor has it that six Chinese disc manufacturers in Guangzu Trade Fair retreated from the said fair due to the domination of the investigation group composed of Japanese enterprises. After that, the relevant manufacturers suggested to the official that the early reporting system of patent should be established. Such a reporting system will serve as the entrance to patent development and the negotiation for royalty. Taiwan enterprises have the same experience in foreign manufacturers’ demand for payment for royalty. In addition to making the payment for royalty, manufacturers have no alternative but to resort to litigation in accordance with the law in the short term. For example, the litigation concerning the injunction against the sale of disc in the U.S. arises from the infringement dispute between Gigastorage, Princo Corporation, and Philips.(2003.11)

CYJ/CCS