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Philips Says Compact Discs Can't be Copyprotected

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the voice-of-reason dept.

Tomcat666 writes "tecChannel has a story about Philips, the holder of the most CD digital audio (CD-DA) patents. Apparently, they don't like the audio CD copy protection many record companies want to enforce in the future. They break the CD-DA standard and therefore are not allowed to use the logo. As a conclusion, Philips' next audio CD copier will be able to detect and probably circumvent the copy protection of audio CDs." This article is Auf Deutsch but the fish does a tolerable job of making it sane for those who can't remember the proper gender of all their nouns.

6 of 588 comments (clear)

  1. patent runs out soon by jugg · · Score: 4, Redundant

    Unfortuneatly according to the article, Philip's patent runs out in 2002/3 (hitting that 20yr mark).

    So, they won't be able to enforce it soon anyway.

  2. Re:English Version by ErikTheRed · · Score: 1, Redundant

    That's good; I'm pretty sure the babelfish/google translations contained the phrase "Someone set up us the bomb!"

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  3. Re:It's nice to see... by CodeShark · · Score: 4, Redundant

    Dang. Read the article... Phillips patents expire in 2002 and 2003, and it would take that long just to get the litigation moving. We may be screwed.

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    ...Open Source isn't the only answer -- but it's almost always a better value than the alternatives...
  4. Philips sold its record company by Baki · · Score: 3, Redundant

    Several years ago, not long before they started producing audio CD copiers.

    They must have previewed the conflict due to arise between hardware and software (audio) companies.

    I don't think they really support the little guys, but mainly their own business (and rightly so).

  5. Re:It's nice to see... by b1t+r0t · · Score: 4, Redundant
    Phillips patents expire in 2002 and 2003, and it would take that long just to get the litigation moving. We may be screwed.

    This isn't just a patent issue. Patents don't cover that little logo that says "CD Digital Audio", trademarks do. All they have to do is keep enforcing it, and it will stay in effect. The result is still that "broken" audio CDs will not be able to use the official logo.

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    "Open source is evil." - Microsoft
  6. Re:It's nice to see... by UberLame · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The RIAA doesn't make CDs. They only represent people who make CDs. That is an important difference to understand.

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