Royal Philips Electronics announces that it will reduce the royalty rate for DVD recordable discs by more than 40%, from USD 0.06 per disc to USD 0.035 per disc.

The reduction shall be available to all licensees who are in full compliance with the terms and conditions of their license agreement. The reduction shall initially be valid from the 3rd quarter of 2006 until ultimately the end of the 2nd quarter of 2007. During this period Philips expects to introduce the Veeza licensing system for DVD recordable disc in which the royalty reduction will become permanent.

Ben Beune, Senior Vice President of Philips International and Licensing Director for optical standards: "With this reduction we anticipate on the introduction of Veeza for the DVD recordable disc market, expected in 2007. In addition to the lower disc price, Veeza will make it easier to distinguish licensed from unlicensed discs, avoiding unfair competition and thus contribute to a much healthier optical disc market, bringing benefit to both our licensees and to Philips."