Taiwan Joining Chinese Royalty-free Video Disk Effort

BeardStreet writes "In an attempt to stop the flow of royalties to the various DVD licensing bodies (e.g. DVD6C, MPEG-LA, etc.), 19 Taiwanese companies have come up with a royalty-free DVD format called EVD which is compatible with a similar effort going on in China, called AVD. Capacity is about 1 GB higher. Their goal is to avoid having to shell out US $15 to $20 per-player royalties. EVD/AVD players will still be able to play traditional DVD disks but will not have the official DVD logo on them, thus avoiding the licensing fees. It's a political issue as well, in that China needs to balance the flow of royalty money going out of their country, especially with DVD players falling rapidly in price."

Comments

Well good for them

[Jucius Maximus]

When a group of people decide they don't like the legal state of things and decides to come up with their own standard, they are rising above petty legal fights and truly addressing the issues faced by individuals and businessed whose interests are firmly in the hands of patent owners that only care about themselves.

Way to go! - This belongs in the same ranks at the (Ogg) Vorbis Project.

Re:Well good for them

[bricriu]

Maybe these innovations belongs in the same ranks. Hopefully, the success level will be a considerable amount higher. ;-)

Re:Well good for them

[stienman]

I bet you only say this when it appears to be in your favor. Try this similar sentence on for size:

When Microsoft decided they didn't like the legal state of things and decided to come up with their own standards, they were rising above petty legal fights and truly addressing the issues faced by individuals and businessed whose interests are firmly in the hands of patent owners that only care about themselves.

You are purporting to believe in a value, yet I doubt you believe in the value, just this particular case.

BTW, since these video disc players are not DVD licensed, do they have the right to use DVD keys to decrypt existing DVDs? These keys, I imagine, are licensed along with the patent and royalty agreements. This will work great in non-DMCA countries, the USA, however, will likely stop them at customs after some mild lobbying from various patent owners and trade groups. It's very likely that these are destined for the huge chinese market, but they are probably hoping to skirt around the law and get these into the US as well.

-Adam

Re:Well good for them

[Jucius Maximus]

"I bet you only say this when it appears to be in your favor. Try this similar sentence on for size: When Microsoft decided they didn't like the legal state of things and decided to come up with their own standards, they were rising above petty legal fights and truly addressing the issues faced by individuals and businessed whose interests are firmly in the hands of patent owners that only care about themselves."

The difference that the move from MSFT centralises power and control in the hands of a corporation, while the move in Asia hands rights and restriction-free capabilities out to a whide variety of groups.

Centralisation and disemmination of power are very different things.

Will they really avoid license fees?

[Wesley Felter]

If there are patents on the DVD format and these EVD players can read DVDs, it's hard to imagine how they wouldn't infringe those patents.

OTOH, if the royalties are for a trademark license, they may be able to escape by not using the DVD logo.

Excellent - a trade war is just what we need...

[vkg]

Bunch of different, theoretically compatible standards - international patent law called into play, with those Damned Communists trying to avoid paying their patent fees....

You know, if they keep this shit up, they might just distract the MPAA from the Internet long enough for me to finish building my archive :-)

What a difference geography makes

[GuyMannDude]

Several industry sources confirmed that emerging EVD or AVD players will be capable of playing back both EVD/AVD disks and DVD disks.

But other industry sources in Japan acknowledged that if players bear no official DVD logo, it would be difficult for the 6C or 3C groups to go after them.

It's sad that some companies in Asia are going to get away with making their own DVD players for the sole purpose of cheating the DVD patent holders while some poor European kid who writes DeCSS so that he can play his legally purchased DVDs on Linux gets crucified to the fullest extent of the law.

GMD

Re:What a difference money makes

[Telastyn]

It's sad that some rich companies in Asia are going to get away with making their own DVD players for the sole purpose of cheating the DVD patent holders while some poor European kid who writes DeCSS so that he can play his legally purchased DVDs on Linux gets crucified to the fullest extent of the law.

Emphasis mine.

Re:It's about time.

[darkonc]

Apex got in trouble because they signed the non-disclosure agreement that, among other things, prevented them from allowing multi-region players, etc.

If CSS is simply trade-secret, and not patented, then all these newcommers have to do is use DECSS in their players (and possibly include a copy of the source code with every player!!! :-)

Maybe not.

[bstadil]

The MPAA will see to it that customs holds these at the border

If they try to do this the logical counter move is to file a complaint with the World Trade Organization stating the case that the Regional Settings is a deliberate and unlawful inpediment to free trade. The risk of this being declared illegal combined with suits for Punitive damages subsequently filed in the US courts is high.
MPAA will give in long before that as the down side grossly outweighs the alternative.


NB: Write your representative in the country you are in and complain about Regional Settings. Its amazing it has survived so long.

Re:Only in China

[ReelOddeeo]

This format would only be used in China.

Quick! The MPAA needs to lobby Congress to make it illegal for China to do this!