EFF vs.hollywood pt..37

[Adam L. Beberg]

Oh boy...

- Adam L. "Duncan" Beberg
  http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/
  beberg@mithral.com

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release
ReplayTV Users: "We Are Not Thieves"
Customers Defend Right to Digital Recording
For Immediate Release: Thursday, June 6, 2002
Los Angeles - ReplayTV customers today sued the entertainment industry to
protect their rights to skip over commercials and record television programs
for later viewing using digital video recorders.

Responding to both the lawsuit brought against ReplayTV and the industry's
public claims that these actions are "theft," five customers, represented by
the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and Ira Rothken of the Rothken Law
Firm in San Rafael, filed a federal lawsuit in Los Angeles asking the court
to rule that their use of the ReplayTV device is legal under copyright law.

"The studios are using their copyrights as an excuse to control what
individuals do with their own property in the privacy of their own homes,"
said EFF Intellectual Property Attorney Robin Gross.

"Rather than encourage innovation and provide customers with an experience
worthy of attention, Hollywood intends to outlaw a new and promising
technology," commented EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von
Lohmann. "It's just as alarming as the Betamax case of the 1980s when
Hollywood tried to ban VCRs."

"These Hollywood guys want to stop me from using my digital video recorder
like I use my VCR, like for watching shows when I want or zipping through
commercials," explained Craig Newmark, craigslist.com community founder,
ReplayTV user, and plaintiff in the case. "I want to give my nephews and
nieces a break from the rampant consumerism on TV by using ReplayTV's
commercial skipping feature."

Last October, dozens of Hollywood movie and television studios sued ReplayTV
and SonicBlue for making and distributing personal video recorders, claiming
that consumers' use of such devices constitutes copyright violation and
seeking a broad injunction that would prevent the further use, support, or
sale of the machines.

In an interview with [INSIDE] Magazine, Turner Broadcasting CEO Jamie
Kellner voiced this opinion on the issue: "[T]he ad skips . . .. It's theft.
Your contract with the network when you get the show is you're going to
watch the spots. Otherwise you couldn't get the show on an ad-supported
basis. Any time you skip a commercial or watch the button you're actually
stealing the programming."

When prompted, Kellner did admit that "there's a certain amount of tolerance
for going to the bathroom."

Along with Newmark, ReplayTV customers filing the lawsuit with legal
representation by the EFF are: Keith Ogden, owner of a financial broker firm
in San Francisco; Shawn Hughes, a small business owner in Georgia; Seattle
journalist Glenn Fleishman; and southern Californian video engineer Phil
Wright.

Links:
For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/20020606_eff_pr.html

EFF complaint against entertainment industry:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/20020606_complaint.html

EFF case portal on Newmark et al. v Paramount et al.:
http://www.eff.org/sc/newmark/

EFF case archive on Paramount v. ReplayTV case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Paramount_v_ReplayTV

Paramount complaint against ReplayTV:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Paramount_v_ReplayTV/20011031_complaint.html

craigslist.com announcement on ReplayTV case:
http://www.craigslist.org/craig.vs.hollywood.html

Interview with Turner CEO Kellner (there is a small access fee):
http://www.inside.com/product/product.asp?entity=CableWorld&pf_ID=7A2ACA71-FAAD-41FC-A100-0B8A11C30373

Related media coverage:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,52944,00.html

About EFF:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties
organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in
1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to
support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most-linked-to websites in the world
at http://www.eff.org/