Los Angeles - On Monday, August 12, five ReplayTV owners will protect their rights to record television programs and to skip commercials by pursuing a legal challenge against the entertainment industry. A federal court will consider an entertainment industry request to dismiss the consumer lawsuit as well as the ReplayTV customers' request to combine their lawsuit with the entertainment industry lawsuit filed last fall to ban ReplayTV digital recording devices.
In response to the entertainment industry's lawsuit against digital VCR manufacturers, the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) petitioned the court on behalf of the five ReplayTV owners to declare legal their use of the digital devices also known as personal video recorders (PVRs). EFF seeks to ensure that the legal debate over digital video recorders will include consumers' concerns, as well as those of the entertainment and consumer electronics industries.
The entertainment industry claims that commercial skipping infringes copyright and digital recording aids piracy.
Monday's hearing is scheduled for 10:00 a.m. PDT in Courtroom 750 of the federal building at 312 North Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. Members of the public and press are welcome to attend the August 12 hearing. The EFF legal team and plaintiff Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org and a ReplayTV owner, will be available immediately after the hearing for comment.
For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/20020809_eff_pr.html
For more information on the ReplayTV customers' suit:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/
For more information on the entertainment industry's suit:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Paramount_v_ReplayTV/
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/