amazing news if true (basic optical patents awarded in japan)
that was very quietly buried in the earnings press release,
unless it's old news and i've been completely asleep at
the wheel.
as you know, ECD currently accrues little in the way
of royalties for phase change because DVD-RAM didn't
ship in quantity until calendar Q4 (they get none
from CD-RW because of the ricoh snafu [ricoh cites
only expired U.S. patents for their In-Sb-Ag-Te material.)
but a japanese patent award similar to that of the basic NiMH
one in 1997 portends wonderful things. that's because expired
U.S. master patent #3,530,441, for work done in 1970, is
quite fundamental.
so, since an award would be recent, we have 20 years
of protection from *now* in japan. ironic, because
only the improvement patents in the u.s. are in effect.
that's a fantastic bargaining chip, and can result in
retroactive royalties for CD-RW, depending upon the issuance date,
rather like the royalty boost of over $1M we've seen
hit the bottom line for NiMH over the last year. |
