Blu-ray consortium links with MPEG LA for licensing

Companies with Blu-ray patents have linked up with MPEG LA, a licensing organization, to come up with a way to license the intellectual property behind the optical disc technology.

Although Blu-ray proponents often talk about specifications and technology behind it, royalties are a key element too. Sony, Philips and others gained millions in royalties from licensing CD technology.

"There is a lot of intellectual that went into this, and companies like Philips and Toshiba and Sony will all look for a return on investment," said Rudy Provoost, CEO of Philips Electronics in January. "That is what makes it a challenging debate. It's like the CD days. Everybody looks for a fair reward."

Seventeen companies, including Philips, Sanyo, Dell and HP, participated in a July 6 and 7 meeting with MPEG LA.

MPEG LA is actually quite well regarded in the often contentious intellectual property world. It licenses the technology behind MPEG-2 and IEEE 1394, which are used extensively.

Many people these days get sweaty and angry every time patents and technology licensing come up, accusing those who try to get payments of being "trolls." Technology licensing, though, is fairly common and will likely increase, according to many in the field. Typically, companies and organizations try to license their technology first. If negotiations fail, litigation can follow.