Philips pushes to seize optical media

Philips Electronics has been pushing the authorities to seize optical media shipments that according to Philips violate their optical disc patents. However, they have faced a setback as authorities are saying that Philips has no to demand products for other vendors to be seized. And on top of that, the European distributors are planning to sue Philips to get compensation of their lost profits.

Philips has been seeking to have custom authorities in Europe seize imports of CD-R and DVD-/+R discs whose makers Philips claims have failed to pay royalties. However, its actions have backfired, with channel distributors in Europe filing countersuits against Philips, the sources said.

Authorities in Italy and Belgium have recently ruled that Philips’ claims to patents for DVD-R are disputable and rejected its case against distributors, the sources said.

Source: DigiTimes