Riding herd on the DVD optical disc marketplace for nearly 25 years, the DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation (DVD FLLC) announced it will cease operations and mosey off into the sunset at the end of December.

Formed in April 2000 by the ten founding members of the DVD Forum* (originally DVD Consortium), the DVD FLLC assumed responsibility from Toshiba to license, maintain and police every aspect of all DVD format specification books, logos and trademarks. Predictably ebbing and flowing over the decades, its international ranks of media, hardware, software, system, component, authoring, content and packaging licensees remains nearly 90 strong (see table).

Before anyone gets too ahead of themselves, however, commercial obligations don’t magically disappear with the group’s passing. According to its President Noriko Fukuoka, the DVD FLLC is readying a “scheme that [will] enable… [current licensees] to manufacture DVD products without license on and after January 1, 2025.” Beyond this, a complexity of associated intellectual property owners independently grant and administer their own rights and permissions. Other related logos and trademarks abound and, for example, while the DVD6C (patent pool of eight companies) finished issuing licenses in January 2020, multiple patents remain alive (some through 2029) in various jurisdictions with terms negotiated by individual owners.

Putting things in perspective, with billions of discs, hundreds of millions of devices, tens of thousands of titles and a generation of happy consumers, DVD still has many good years ahead.

* Historic TW (formerly Time Warner), Hitachi, JVCKENWOOD (formerly JVC), Mitsubishi, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Vantiva (formerly Thomson).

DVD FLLC Licensees
(Nov. 2024)

Advanced Duplication Services, LLC
AISIN CORPORATION
AlphaTheta Corporation
ALPS ALPINE CO., LTD.
Apple Inc.
AutoChips Inc.
Autosound Electronic (HK) Limited
AVIC UmeDisc (HK) Limited
Bertelsmann SE & Co.KGaA
CD Video Manufacturing, Inc.
Cinemo GmbH
CMC Magnetics Corporation
Continental Automotive GmbH
Corel Corporation
CyberLink Corporation
Dainichi Vietnam Limited
Deluxe Media Inc.
Denso Corporation
DENSO TEN Limited
DIY Media Group, Inc. (dba Disc Makers)
Dongguan Lianzhou Electronic Technology Co., Ltd.
Eagle Plastic Development Co. Ltd.
ECOTEX TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.
Falcon Technologies International L.L.C.
FLE Vietnam Co., Ltd.
FUJIFILM Media Crest Co., Ltd.
Funai Electric Co., Ltd.
Giant Video Electronics Co. Ltd.
Grass Valley K.K.
GUANGZHOU CHANGJIA ELECTRONIC CO., LTD.
Harman International Industries, Incorporated
Hewlett Packard Caribe B. V.
Hitachi-LG Data Storage, Inc.
HKC CORPORATION LIMITED
Homenema Technology Incorporation
HONGKONG NAISHENG INT’L LIMITED
JET Optoelectronics Co., Ltd.
JVCKENWOOD Corporation
Kaleidescape, Inc.
Keumsahn Electronics Co., Ltd.
LG Electronics Inc.
Lightcomm Technology Co., Ltd.
Lite-On Technology Corporation
MAGIX Software GmbH
MediaTek Inc.
Memory-Tech Holdings Inc.
Memory-Tech Tsukuba Corporation
Microforum Services Group
Microsoft Corporation
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
Motrex Co., Ltd.
Nero AG
Nuvoton Technology Corporation Japan
Onken Corporation
Panasonic Holdings Corporation
Pegasys Inc.
Pioneer Corporation
PrimeDisc Limited
Renesas Electronics Corporation
Ritek Corporation
S&O Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd.
SDRAY Co., Ltd.
Shanghai Epic Music Entertainment Co., Ltd
Sharp Corporation
Shenzhen Canjing Electronics Co., Ltd.
Shenzhen Junlan Electronic Ltd.
Shenzhen KaiXun Technology Co.,Ltd
Shenzhen Kejinming Electronic Co., Ltd.
Shenzhen Maxmade Technology Co., Ltd.
Shenzhen Soling Industrial Co., Ltd.
sMedio, Inc.
Socionext Inc.
SoJean Technology Co., Ltd
Sony Group Corporation
SOURCENEXT CORPORATION
Storewell Media Manufacturing Ltd
Sunplus Technology Co., Ltd.
TCL Technoly Electronics (Huizhou) Co., Ltd
Toshiba Corporation
TVS REGZA Corporation
Toyo Recording Co., Ltd.
U-Tech Media Corporation
Vantiva SA
Wondershare Technology Group Co., Ltd
Xdisc S.A.
Xi’an Egar Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd
3A Media Co., Ltd.