June 1st, 2009
POTUS to SCOTUS: Leave Cablevision decision alone
Should the Supreme Court hear networks’ and movie studios’ plea to consider whether Cablevision’s remote DVR technology violates copyright law? The Justice Department urged no, Dow Jones reports.
A federal appeals court said Cablevision could go forward with its plans to record, store and serve copyrighted content on its own servers instead of forcing customers to buy their own individual DVRs, rejecting the copyright industry’s argument that the scheme violates copyright law.
Solicitor General Elena Kagan wrote in a brief that the court shouldn’t get involved.
For the last 30 years, consumers have been able to record televised programs and to play back the recorded programming at a later time. Respondents’ proposed RS-DVR service is part of a broader transition from analog to digital recording and playback, and from business models where consumers purchase a tangible item to those where they pay for a service.
