Sony, Panasonic, and Philips jointly announced on Wednesday that they are planning for a new licensing firm for Blu-ray patents, which will make the licensing process simpler and less expensive for potential Blu-ray device developers. 

According to the trio, the new licensing firm, covering all essential Blu-ray patents, will be set up by mid-2009 as a one-stop shop for the device makers. It will introduce a new licensing program that will cover all necessary Blu-ray, DVD, and CD patents for selling Blu-ray players.

Gerald Rosenthal, former head of intellectual property at IBM, will lead the licensing company, with its headquarter in the United States and offices in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. The three companies stated that the new licensing company will make licensing fees cheaper for potential licensees. 

Gerald Rosenthal said, "By establishing a new licensing entity that offers a single license for Blu-ray Disc products at attractive rates, I am confident that it will foster the growth of the Blu-ray Disc market and serve the interest of all companies participating in this market, be it as licensee or licensor."

According to three companies, they will try to win over six other BD founding companies including Hitachi, LG Electronics, Thomson, Sharp, Samsung and Pioneer, to make real progress. 

The trio explained that "Blu-ray fees used to be charged on a flat-fee basis; in 2003, for example, the founder companies charged $30,000 for manufacturing a player or recorder, media, components, or manufacturing equipment. An additional category could be added for an additional $20,000." 

But, according to the new plan, the manufacturers would be charged $9.50 for each Blu-ray player, or $14.00 for each Blu-ray recorder. And, all recordable discs would carry a 12 cent fee while rewriteable discs would carry a 15 cent fee per disc.