Patent royalties unsettled, DVDs from Mainland China seized by European Union customs

Audio-visual Products Branch of the Chamber of Commerce for Import & Export of Mechanical & Electrical Products in Mainland China, recently issued urgent notices to the manufacturers and distributors of DVDs in Mainland China to warn the relevant enterprises that the customs of the members of European Union had started seizing DVDs manufactured by Mainland China from the Lunar New Year because of issues about the determination of intellectual property rights. The cause of seizure is that some European manufacturers such as Philips had taken seizure of exported DVDs of which manufacturers do not obtain IP authentication through local customs.

The event of seizure was initiated by the alliance of the technical developers including Philips, Sony and Pioneer for the DVDs of which manufacturers in the world, including Mainland China, do not pay royalties.

Source: Economic Daily News 03/04/2002