Steven Towns

Japanese Co's Lead List of Firms Receiving Patents in U.S. (CAJ, MC, HIT, IBM, HPQ, INTC, MU)

I found out from researching the Japanese business press that Sony (SNE) held the number 10 spot in 2004 and subsequently fell out of the top 10 in 2005. IBM has been first for the past thirteen-years. Samsung has moved up from number nine in 2003, to number six in 2004 and number five in '05.

DVD Format Battle Development: Toshiba to License HD-DVD Technology to China (HPQ, MC, SNE, DELL, DIS, NWS, LGF, NIPNY, SANYY, MSFT, INTC)

Update: Warner Bros. is the second major studio to announce its support of both next -generation DVD formats. It made the announcement yesterday following Paramount Pictures' decision earlier this month to release films in both HD-DVD and Blu-ray disc format. That means NBC Universal is the only studio that will release films solely on HD-DVD format. Warner Bros. is said to have made the decision to support both formats because it doesn't see an end to the format war. (Source: AP) * Warner Bros. is owned by Time Warner Inc. (ticker: TWX), Paramount Pictures is owned by Viacom (ticker: VIA-B), and NBC Universal is owned by GE (ticker: GE).