Dolby Employees Receive Academy Award

Dolby Employees to Receive Academy Award in Scientific and Technical Category for Environmental Film Initiative

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. announced today that three employees, Ioan Allen, Senior Vice President; Ted Costas, Director, Distributor Services; and Martin Richards, Principal Staff Engineer, will receive an Academy Award(R) in the Scientific and Technical category to recognize their leadership in the cyan movement, an industry-wide environmental effort to convert silver-based 35 mm film to cyan dye analog soundtracks. The Scientific and Technical Academy Awards will be presented on Saturday, February 10, 2007.

"Dolby is extremely honored the Academy has recognized the company's commitment to both the environment and the industry as a whole," said Tim Partridge, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Professional Division, Dolby Laboratories. "Ioan, Ted, and Marty's leadership in the cyan dye movement demonstrates Dolby's dedication to scientific innovation beyond enhancing sound and video technology for the industry."

The cyan dye movement was conceptualized through technology described in a Dolby patent, which was donated to the film industry. In 1998 the Dye Track Committee, led by Dolby staff and including representatives from film stock companies, film laboratories, film distributors, and exhibitors, was formed to lead the conversion movement. Until recently, analog soundtracks were placed on film by a silver application procedure that used millions of gallons of water a year and tons of chemicals, some caustic and hazardous. For nearly a decade the Dye Track Committee worked to coordinate a change from the silver addition process to pure dye cyan soundtracks and with theatre exhibitors to equip theatres with the required red light readers to play back the cyan dye soundtracks on projectors.

"The huge success of the cyan movement is due to the dedication and collaboration of many individuals in the film industry, and we are proud to be among a group of distinguished colleagues that are receiving this special award this year," said Ioan Allen, Senior Vice President, Dolby Laboratories. "It has been a pleasure being part of this industry change."

Dolby Laboratories has won ten Academy Awards for various achievements in the film industry. In addition to the Academy Award in the Scientific and Technical category, the company is proud to announce that all movies nominated this year for Achievement in Sound Editing and Mixing utilized Dolby(R) Digital sound technology. This marks the 29th consecutive year that films released with Dolby audio technologies have earned Academy Award nominations for outstanding sound quality - Dolby.