Petteri Pyyny
12 Apr 2002 12:56
Sony announced today that it will drop its lawsuit against Apex, small DVD manufacturer. Sony filed the suit in end of March and it was widely reported in public in this week.
Now Sony says that Apex and its parent company United Delta Inc. have agreed to pay $5 or 3.5% of the wholesale price per unit for Sony, Philips and Pioneer in DVD technology licensing fees.
During the last half of 2001, Apex gained an almost unbelievable 20 per cent share of the American DVD player market in terms of sold units. Sony claims that this was achieved by illegal means -- by not paying DVD technology licensing fees to the patent holders and therefore achieving a cheaper retail price.