Are DVDs as environmentally friendly as they could be?

By Eriq Gardner

The DVD format has never been so popular. 

No, we're not talking about DVD sales, down 14 percent from last year.

Instead, we're referring to the number of antitrust lawsuits in recent months involving the way the DVD market is controlled by movie studios and manufacturers.

One company says it wasn't able to get a license from studios to sell a technology that allowed consumers to make digital copies of DVDs to their computer hard drives. Another company says it wasn't able to get a studio's DVDs for low-cost rentals.

Now, we have a new lawsuit from a Swiss-based company that claims an antitrust conspiracy is preventing it from introducing an ecologically friendly DVD.

EcoDisc Technology AG is suing DVD Licensing Format and DVD Forum, whose founding members include Sony and Time Warner and controls products offered by as many as 400 manufacturers, for blocking introduction of its "thinner, lighter, more flexible DVD." The product is allegedly recyclable and results in 52 percent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than the standard format. Here's the complaint.

Comments

[Kirsten@Nexyoo]

I recently read about a Taiwanese technology for recycling DVDs that sounds promising: http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1079374&lang=eng_news&cate_img=35.jpg&cate_rss=news_Business