HD DVD patents sought by Taiwan disc makers

According to a recently published Chinese newspaper article, Taiwanese disc manufacturers have attempted to purchase the HD DVD technology patents, which are owned by Toshiba. Toshiba has refused to sell, with no specific reasons being disclosed.

The slightly different CBHD (China Blue High Definition) format was primarily developed by Toshiba, with cooperation from Chinese Universities and other Chinese research organizations. Over 90% of CBHD is based on HD DVD patents.

The newspaper article also speculates that optical disc companies might be trying to acquire HD DVD technology rights in order to strengthen their positions when negotiating Blu-ray Disc royalty rates.

Disc makers might also be looking to cut down on the costs of CBHD disc manufacturing. If the CBHD format takes off in the Chinese market, manufacturers would obviously benefit from owning the patents behind it. Ownership of the technology would circumvent the need to shell out royalty fees to the Japanese based Toshiba corporation.