CyberHome DVD Recorders Seized
By TWICE Staff -- TWICE, 6/15/2006
San Jose, Calif. — A task force of local, state and federal agencies seized more than 20,000 CyberHome-brand DVD recorders that allegedly use Philips patents without a license.
CyberHome U.S.A. of Fremont, Calif., markets DVD players, DVD recorders, portable DVD players and a handful of LCD TVs. Its customers include Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City, Fry’s, Target and Wal-Mart.
The task force, whose lead agency is the FBI, obtained a search warrant to enter the warehouse as “part of an ongoing investigation into the illegal manufacture and sale of products bearing counterfeit trademarks,” the task force said. California law provides for imprisonment up to three years and fines up to $500,000 for the manufacture, possession, or sale of more than 1,000 items bearing a counterfeit mark, the task force said. Eight tractor-trailer loads of infringing DVD recorders were seized with an estimated retail value of more than $2 million.
The Santa Clara County district attorney’s office called CyberHome “one of the world’s largest manufacturers and importers of DVD devices.” The company’s Web site said its products are also sold in Europe.
The task force, called REACT, was tipped of by Philips, said a spokesman for Philips Electronics North America in New York. “CyberHome has been using Philips DVD technology in its DVD players and recorders for a very long time now without paying royalties,” the spokesman said. “Their debts currently are a multimillion amount of dollars. At this moment, CyberHome is not licensed at all, so they infringe upon our patents. This is illegal, and it also creates unfair competition in the market, as many other companies are licensed. We always want to find solutions in a peaceful way, but if companies do not respect our IP, we are forced to take legal steps.”
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I have a Cyberhome DVD player CH-300 .. cost me $39.00 at Wal-mart (comparable Philips was around $99.00 at the time). It's over 3 years old and has been used almost everyday. It also plays almost every form of media I can burn from my computer (something the Philips player DID NOT do). I'd say I got my money's worth out of it.
I DEFINITELY am not happy to find out they were infringing on Philips patents, but it was cheap, easier to use than our Sony DVD player, and supported MANY more formats.
Maybe Philips (and others) could/should learn a lesson from this experience. Obviously profits can still be made at less than 1/2 the cost of what other companies provide the same devices for and having open source players that support the many different formats that video comes in these days is a HUGE help to the consumers.
Another HUGE selling point for this device is that it was assembled in America(something I still look). Despite the fact that they broke patent law. They had 100's of workers, offered a decent (if not great) pay scale, and seemed to provide a decent work-place.
Johnnywho - 2009-17-8 10:06:52 EDT -
I won a Cyberhome CH-DVD 300 from my university in a contest three years ago, but due to my living situation didn\'t open and use it until last month. The player itself is great -- small and plays well -- but it gives no response to the remote. That would ordinarily not be a problem, but the player has few manual buttons (to keep it small?), so I can\'t access many menu options. Ugh, if the company went under, it will be harder to replace the remote. If anyone knows a way, I hope they\'ll post the solution here.
