DVD Burning Bits.com - Philips announces New license program for non standard audio optical discs.

An increasing number of audio CDs are being published as multi-session discs.

The first session of these discs contains audio that can be played back by a consumer CD-Audio player and the second session contains music, video, and/or other data that can be played back by the CD-ROM drive of a PC.
The manufacture of these multi-session discs is not licensed by Philips and Sony under the CD Disc Patent License Agreement. The multi-session discs, however, necessarily use a number of Philips and Sony patents on the multi-session and CD-ROM technologies. The expiration of these patents is still many years away, contrary to the patents on CD-Audio which have expired in many countries. Philips and Sony have created a license program for these new disc types, under a new license agreement, called �Patent License Agreement for the Manufacture of Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Discs�.
Not a CD-Extra disc
These new types of multi-session discs differ significantly from the CD discs for which Philips and Sony offer patent licenses (e.g. CD-Audio, CD-ROM, and CD-Extra).
The CD Disc Patent License Agreement comprising the essential patents of Philips and Sony defines a.o. the CD-Extra disc, which is also a multi-session disc. The new types of multi-session discs, however, do not conform to the mandatory features of the CD Extra standard as defined in the �Enhanced Music CD Standard Specifications�, such as the mandatory presence of certain directories and files. Hence, these new discs cannot be called CD-Extra discs.

Conditions of the new license program
The Patent License Agreement for the Manufacture of Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Discs covers multi-session audio discs that are:

not CD-Extra discs, and
have a second session that is a data session, formatted as CD-ROM mode-1, CD-ROM mode-2, CD-ROM-XA mode-2 form-1, or CD-ROM XA mode-2 form-2.
This license agreement specifies the following payments and royalties:

An entrance fee of USD 25,000.
A reduced entrance fee of USD 5,000 applies if the Licensee had already entered into the CD Disc Patent License, provided that Licensee is in full compliance with its obligations under that agreement.
A royalty of USD 0.045 for each Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Disc with a diameter of 12 cm.
A royalty of USD 0.03 for each Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Disc with a diameter of 8 cm.
These royalties are equal to the royalties for CD-Extra discs under the CD Disc Patent License Agreement.

Alternative royalty for licensees who are in full compliance with their obligations under the license agreement
The royalty rates mentioned above are the standard royalty rates. Reduced rates apply for licensees of this new license program who fully comply with their obligations under the Patent License Agreement for the Manufacture of Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Discs.

Under this license, the CD System logos may only be used in relation to products that fully conform to the applicable Compact Disc standard specifications.

Alternative royalty for hybrid discs
An alternative royalty rate applies to certain types of multi-layer discs that combine a Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Disc layer with another layer that is differently formatted and licensed under another optical disc patent license agreement with Philips.

A royalty of USD 0.055 for each multi-layer disc that combines a Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio layer with a Super Audio CD layer.
A royalty of USD 0.075 for each multi-layer disc that combines a Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio layer with a DVD-ROM layer.
A royalty of USD 0.075 for each multi-layer disc that combines a Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio layer with a DVD-Video layer.
A royalty of USD 0.075 for each multi-layer disc that combines a Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio layer with a DVD-Audio layer.
The application of alternative royalty rates for hybrid discs has to be confirmed in a side letter to the relevant license agreement, which is available to interested manufacturers.

Short name: Multi-session Audio Disc
The official name of these disc, "Non-Standard Multi-Session CD-Audio Disc", can be shortened to"Multi-Session Audio Disc".

Reference copies of the license agreements, as well as lists with the relevant patents