One-Blue, LLC is embarking on a campaign to remind retailers about their legal obligations and educate them on how to identify Blu-ray Disc (BD) products licensed by the patent pool.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that One-Blue represents only a fraction of the parties claiming Blu-ray-related intellectual property rights. For additional details see The Authoritative Blu-ray Disc (BD) FAQ.
For more information visit: www.one-blue.com
Unedited press release follows:
What Retailers Should Know About Blu-ray Disc™ Patent Protection
NEW YORK, Aug. 23, 2012 — With merchants already gearing up for the busy holiday shopping season, One-Blue, LLC has developed a series of guidelines for consumer goods retailers to help them comply with a licensing, registration and labeling program governing the sale and distribution of products covered by Blu-ray Disc™ products patents. The awareness effort is designed to help brick-and-mortar and online retailers avoid supply chain disruptions and reduce their exposure to legal and financial risks in the event that they are unknowingly buying, stocking or reselling unlicensed Blu-ray Disc™ products.
One-Blue, the one-stop shop for patent licenses from the leading providers of Blu-ray Disc™ technology, is the licensing agent for more than 10,000 Blu-ray Disc™ product patents that are essential to Blu-ray Disc™, DVD and CD intellectual property. The patents relate to all manner of Blu-ray Disc™ products, including discs, players, recorders, as well as optical disc drives and Blu-ray Disc™ products reading and writing software.
The following guidelines provide a check-list that retailers can use to protect themselves by ensuring that they are buying only from One-Blue licensees whose Blu-ray Disc™ products carry the appropriate registration marks and labeling.
Check One-Blue’s Licensee Database. Determine whether your supplier has a registration or license agreement with One-Blue for the relevant Blu-ray Disc™ product by checking One-Blue’s online Licensee Database. Companies that have a registration agreement are required to obtain a License Status Confirmation Document (LSCD) with every shipment, and are denoted in the database with an asterisk (“*”).
Require that LSCDs Are Included in Supply Contracts. Retailers should require from their Blu-ray Disc™ product suppliers that LSCDs be provided with every shipment. Upon request, One-Blue can provide retailers with an overview of the LSCD process and if necessary, obtaining duplicate copies of issued LSCDs.
Look For One-Blue’s Product Label. One-Blue requires that a label with a unique One-Blue logo and barcode, which contains anti-counterfeiting marks like a bank note, be placed on the outer packaging of all licensed Blu-ray Players/Recorders and Blu-ray enabled PCs sold. The One-Blue Product Label signifies to retailers and consumers that the Blu-ray Disc™ product manufacturers have obtained a patent license from One-Blue.
One-Blue’s licensors include leading electronics companies CyberLink, Dell, Fujitsu, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi, JVC Kenwood, LG Electronics, Panasonic, Philips, Pioneer, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, Taiyo Yuden and Yamaha. To date, 92 manufacturers from more than 15 countries have joined One-Blue as licensees. For more information, contact One-Blue at http://www.one-blue.com/.
About One-Blue
As the one-stop shop representing the Blu-ray Disc™ industry’s leading technology providers, One-Blue, LLC provides patent licenses from the leading Blu-ray Disc™, DVD and CD product IP holders. One-Blue vows to foster a level playing field by guaranteeing strong patent enforcement for licensees and licensors and ensures competitive parity for all Blu-ray Disc™ providers. One-Blue’s patent pool is built upon industry best practices to help all parties lower royalties, transaction costs and streamline the patent licensing process.