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For Immediate Release: Friday, March 21, 2003

Electronic Frontier Foundation on SonicBlue Bankruptcy

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory

San Francisco - SonicBlue today announced its intention to file for bankruptcy protection.

The company, maker of the ReplayTV digital video recorder, has been spending as much as $1 million a month in litigation expenses to defend a lawsuit brought by more than two dozen entertainment companies. The entertainment companies allege that ReplayTV owners are violating copyright law when they skip commercials. EFF represents five individual ReplayTV owners who have counter-sued the entertainment companies to establish that skipping commercials is legal.

"Today\'s bankruptcy sends a clear message to technology companies: you may not innovate without Hollywood\'s prior approval, on pain of enormous litigation expenses," said EFF Staff Attorney Gwen Hinze.

"This puts the case on hold for the short term," said Ira Rothken of the Rothken Law Firm, lead lawyer on behalf of the individual ReplayTV owners. "Much will depend on the details of the bankruptcy, but we are still very interested in making it clear that Hollywood cannot use copyright law to force consumers to watch commercials."

Links:

For this advisory:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/20030321_eff_pr.php Newmark v. Turner case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/ Media coverage:
http://news.com.com/2100-1047-993647.html
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/02/20/BU242907.DTL

Contact:

Gwen Hinze
  Staff Attorney
  Electronic Frontier Foundation
  gwen@eff.org
  +1 415 436-9333 x110 (office)

Ira Rothken
  Attorney
  Rothken Law Firm
  ira@techfirm.com
  +1 415 924-4250

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/

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