Members of the DVD Forum have met in Tokyo and announced a licensing and logo agreement for the DVD specification, in preparation for the technology’s global launch. Digital Vertical Disk, or Digital Video Disk, depending on who you speak to, is being hailed as the successor of the CD-ROM. DVD is very similar to the Compact Disk media, but it may be double sided with up to 135 minutes of video footage fitting on to each side, and it is said to be of a higher quality. The Forum is made up of 10 companies with DVD interests; Hitachi Ltd, Matsushita Electronic Industrial Co, Philips Electronics NV, Mitsubishi Electronic Corp, Pioneer Electronic Corp, Sony Corp, Thomson Multimedia SA, Time Warner Inc, Toshiba Corp and Victor Company of Japan Ltd. Toshiba will act as the interim licensing agent on behalf of the companies, it said. The Forum said a long term licensing programme is being planned for the future. The interim agreement is apparently available to all DVD product manufacturers.
