Authorities Seize 20,000 DVD Recorders From Cyberhome

[Ian]

It appears that Cyberhome (aka Cyberdrive) has been naughty and has not been paying their license fees. According to this, the authorities seized 20,000 of their DVD recorders.

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/060614/cyberhom ... .html?.v=1

Authorities armed with a search warrant hauled away 20,000 DVD recorders from Cyberhome USA, a U.S. affiliate of Cyberhome Taiwan, which is accused of manufacturing them without paying licensing fees, authorities said.

The June 8 raid was prompted by a complaint from Philips Electronics, which claims Cyberhome continued making the machines after it stopped paying licensing fees of $2 to $5.25 per unit, Santa Clara County prosecutor James Sibley said Tuesday.

I can't say that I'm surprised. These are the same chuckleheads that were using our logo on their boxes without permission.

Gotta love this.. How much room does 20,000 players take up?

It took eight tractor-trailer trucks to haul away the players.

[CowboySlim]

I have one of those. Works real well.
Wondered why it was so cheap.

[[buck]]

As has been stated before... you really don't want to mess with Philips

[Ian]

lol.. these things are already up for auction at propertyroom.com

http://www.propertyroom.com/cgi-bin/nco ... r=70054732

[LoneWolf]

lol.. these things are already up for auction at propertyroom.com

http://www.propertyroom.com/cgi-bin/nco ... r=70054732

I almost bought one of these two years back. That is, until I went down to Best Buy and found the units to be so hot in operation that they were uncomfortable to touch for more than a short time. Not quite enough to burn me, but enough that I knew I'd never buy one.

I like my Philips DVP-642. Works well, secret codes in the remote to disable region-checking, upgradeable firmware, and plays DivX and some xVid movies. All for around $60.

[Alektron]

Philips is not afraid of suing companies for patent infringement or license violations. They have very effective lawyers, and deep pockets. When a ethical company is approached by their team, there's usually a settlement. I guess Cyberhome is a bunch of jackasses.

[Ian]

Their parent company stopped shipping DVD recorders to the US due to overdue payments.

http://www.digitimes.com/systems/a20060807A5031.html

CyberHome Entertainment (formerly named Protop Innotech), a leading maker of DVD recorders in Taiwan, on August 4 announced it has temporarily stopped shipments of DVD recorders to its largest client CyberHome USA due to overdue payments arising from the confiscation by the US customs authority in June of 20,000 DVD recorders imported by CyberHome USA.

CyberHome USA sells DVD recorders under its CyberHome brand name with CyberHome Entertainment being a major shareholder in the company, according to industry sources. Philips asked the US customs authority in California to confiscate 20,000 DVD recorders with a market value of US$2 million due to infringement on the company's patents, the sources pointed out.

[dolphinius_rex]

things aren't looking good for Cyberhome!!

[MonteLDS]

lol, and this is only like a $100k worth of fees that they haven't paid. talk about cheap