John Ashcroft’s Justice Department is now investigating a DVD standards group.
The Wall Street Journal
reports that the government has launched a preliminary inquiry into the activities of the Blu-ray group, which was founded by Sony, Matsushita, Philips and seven other major electronics companies.
The prosecutors are looking into whether the group’s members acted to impede technical progress in their development of a new format for high-definition DVDs. The Blu-ray disc can store about six times as much data as a conventional DVD.
The Justice Department has not commented on the matter.
