EU competition regulators are taking a look into the commercial practices of Japanese electronics giants Sony and Toshiba in their battle over DVD formats, a European Commission spokeswoman said Wednesday.
The two companies are engaged in a fierce struggle to impose their rival next-generation DVD formats with Toshiba pushing a standard called HD and Sony backing the Blu-ray format.
"We sent requests for information during July to the founders of the Blu-ray and HD DVD formats as well as several Hollywood studios," the spokeswoman said without giving the companies names.
According to Stephen Kinsella with law firm Sidley Austin in Brussels, the commission is seeking to find out whether the companies are trying to impose their formats on movie studios and computer makers with exclusivity contracts.
Although a request for information did not mean a probe had been formally opened, Kinsella said it was "a consequential step" because "a great deal of work" was needed to answer the questions.
In a replay of the VHS-Betamax battle of the late 1970s, Japanese electronics makers have invested heavily in the future of DVDs and are fighting a fierce campaign to try to convince consumers that their product should become the dominant format.
