Studios Assail ReplayTV Technology "The suit filed by MGM, Fox, Universal Studios and Orion Pictures goes furthest, arguing that it's illegal to let consumers record and store shows based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description. This claim threatens not just the ReplayTV devices, some copyright experts say, but all recorders like it."
"Unlike VCRs, which require users to record shows by time slot or unique number, PVRs record based on a show's name or program description. Users don't need to know when "Friends" is on. They just need to know the name or a leading actor. Once a program is found, the device can be set to capture it whenever it's on the air."
" 'If a ReplayTV customer can simply type 'The X-Files' or 'James Bond' and have every episode of 'The X-Files' and every James Bond film recorded in perfect digital form and organized, compiled and stored on the hard drive of his or her ReplayTV 4000 device, it will cause substantial harm to the market for prerecorded DVD, videocassette and other copies of those episodes and films,' the lawsuit states."
"The fundamental question posed by the MGM suit is whether the financial effect on the studios trumped consumers' ability to copy programs for personal use, said Douglas Wood, a New York attorney who specializes in intellectual-property and advertising law. If MGM wins on that point, he said, 'We'd be left with plain old VCRs.' "
"He's not betting on the studios, though, given the Supreme Court's 1984 ruling that consumers could legally record programs for the sake of watching them later. 'What difference does it make how I do it?' Wood said. 'The dilemma is, the technology is turning the business model upside down. But that doesn't mean it's copyright infringement.' " (emphasis is mine) [via bOing bOing]
I'm quoting liberally from this article because the LA Times link will be gone in a few days. This lawsuit just reeks of desperation. Let's file lawsuit after lawsuit and hope one of them sticks. Yeah, like that worked with Napster and file trading. It's like the bully on the playground who goes tattling on someone that outsmarts him, hoping that someone else will take care of the problem because he can't. I'm all for copyright, but you can't stifle progress just to keep making a buck.
9:31:21 PM 
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