The first meeting of essential HD DVD patent owners, currently consisting of 16 companies, was held in Los Angeles on September 11 for the purpose of creating a joint license to provide access to essential patents, as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses.

Initial participating companies include LG Electronics Inc.; Microsoft Corporation; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; NEC Corporation; Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; SANYO Electric Co., Ltd.; Sonic Solutions; Thomson Licensing; Toshiba Corporation; Victor Company of Japan, Ltd.(JVC); and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc.

"MPEG LA applauds the extraordinary cooperation of so many diverse companies working together to come up with an efficient way for users of the multitude of patents employed in HD DVD devices, discs and related implementations to address their licensing needs," said MPEG LA CEO Larry Horn. "And the substantial progress made in this initial meeting bodes well for achieving it."

MPEG LA, on behalf of essential patent owners, welcomes the input and views of interested parties, including potential licensees, in all related industry sectors. The objective is for the license to reflect both relevant conditions in the marketplace and the value of the licensed technology in order to strike a balance between patent users? interest in reasonable access to this advanced optical disc technology and patent holders? interest in a reasonable return on their research and development investment that enables a joint license to be offered for the convenience of the marketplace as an alternative to negotiating separate licenses.

Additional patent holder meetings are planned, and work on the joint license will continue.