Panasonic, Philips, and Sony have joined forces with other Blu-ray patent holders to allow manufacturers to procure one license that covers all the necessary patents for Blu-ray Disc, DVD, and CD. The new licensing program, which will be run by an independent company, will be based in the United States, with branch offices in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Fees for the new product licenses will be $9.50 for a Blu-ray Disc player and $14 for a Blu-ray Disc recorder; disc fees will be $0.11 for a read-only disc, $0.12 for a recordable disc, and $0.15 for a rewritable disc.

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