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.
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 Turner 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