[FYI] (Fwd) EFF files lawsuit against the studios on behalf of ReplayTV users

["Axel H Horns" <horns@ipjur.com>]

------- Forwarded message follows -------
Date sent:      	Thu, 6 Jun 2002 13:01:07 -0400
Send reply to:  	Law & Policy of Computer Communications              <CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM>
From:           	Mike Godwin <mnemonic@WELL.COM>
Subject:        	EFF files lawsuit against the studios on behalf of ReplayTV users
To:             	CYBERIA-L@LISTSERV.AOL.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.ht
ml

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=7A2A
CA71-FAAD-41FC-A100-0B8A11C30373

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



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