German Appeals Court Upholds MPEG-2 Infringement Verdicts

According to MPEG LA, in alternative technology licenses, the Dusseldorf Appeals Court, Germany (Oberlandesgericht Düsseldorf) recently pronounced its decision dismissing all 12 appeals filed by Greek DVD Video disc replicator Digital Press Hellas S.A., formerly known as Odeon Cineplex S.A.

The unsuccessful appeals by Digital Press Hellas tried to overturn a series of corresponding previous verdicts issued by a German district court (Landgericht Dsseldorf) which found that Digital Press Hellas infringed MPEG-2 patents owned by CIF Licensing, LLC; GE Technology Development, Inc.; Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV; Mitsubishi Electric Corporation; Panasonic 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). Those MPEG-2 patents are also included in the MPEG-2 Patent Portfolio License offered by MPEG LA.

As a result of the appeal dismissals, enforcement of the verdicts will require Digital Press Hellas to cease its distribution of DVD Video discs in Germany and to pay damages to the patent owners for past DVD Video disc distribution in Germany.

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.