DVD Disc Manufacturer Dicentia Infringing MPEG-2 Patents

The District Court Dusseldorf, Germany pronounced last week 12 verdicts on the merits finding that DVD disc manufacturers Dicentia Germany GmbH and Dicentia A/S have infringed certain patents in the MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License offered by MPEG LA, LLC as a result of Dicentia’s manufacture of DVD video discs.

The 12 verdicts of infringement were issued in all 12 cases on the merits brought by MPEG-2 patent owners who are also Licensors in the MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License offered by MPEG LA. Those patent owners include CIF Licensing, LLC; GE Technology Development, Inc.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV; Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Sony Corporation; Thomson Licensing S.A.; The Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York; and Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC).

As a result of these 12 verdicts on the merits and upon the patent owners providing the requisite security bonds, enforcement of the verdicts will require Dicentia to cease its production of DVD video discs in Germany and to pay damages to the patent owners for past DVD video disc production. Dicentia may appeal these verdicts.

In addition, the District Court Dusseldorf issued preliminary injunctions against Mr. Torben Nordquist, Disc Technology Center GmbH and others on behalf of Sony and Philips as a result of the DVD video disc production activities at the former premises of Optical Disc Service (ODS) in Dassow, Germany. These injunctions can be appealed, too.

"The verdicts against Dicentia further confirm the need for a license under MPEG-2 patents in DVD video disc production," said Larry Horn, CEO of MPEG LA.

The MPEG-2 Standard is the core technology underlying the efficient creation, transmission, storage and display of digitized moving images and sound tracks on which DVD and other digital technologies are based; and the DVD-Video Standard (DVD Specifications for Read-Only Disc, Part 3: VIDEO SPECIFICATIONS) requires DVD Video discs to contain information formatted in accordance with the MPEG-2 Standard.