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MPAA Gets Zediva Shut Down
Remote DVR Player System Highlights Copyright Law Absurdity
Earlier this year we noted how a company by the name of Zediva both simply and creatively found a way around constrictive Hollywood licensing restrictions. The company created a system that essentially just gives users direct control of remote DVD players, allowing users to stream all DVD content (even extra feature or director commentaries) via broadband. As had been expected, Hollywood quickly sued Zediva claiming they don't have the necessary streaming licenses -- and this week a Judge shut the service down. As Techdirt notes, the company tried to piggyback on Cablevision's remote DVR victory, something that didn't work but highlights the absurd nature of current copyright law:
quote:
...their argument (based on the Cablevision ruling), was that as long as they were doing the same basic thing that a customer was doing in their homes, but with the physical device in a central location, it should be legal. To put it more simply, the fundamental question is whether or not the length of the cable matters in determining whether something is infringing or not. If the cable is just a few feet from your DVD player to your TV, that's legal. But if the cable is much longer, as the DVD player lives in a data center, would it suddenly no longer be legal? The Cablevision ruling said no.
In a post over at their blog, the MPAA recently tried to argue that a recent Cablevision finding actually supported the entertainment industry's positions -- something Cablevision wouldn't comment about to us when asked.

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qworster
join:2001-11-25
Bryn Mawr, PA

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qworster

Member

This judge is either an absolute moron or....

...has been paid off. In his decision he has also done the following (read the Techdirt article):

Made Netflix streaming illegal.

Made DVD and VHS rentals illegal "In this case, unlike Cablevision, Defendants’ customers do not produce their own unique copy of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works. Instead, like On Command and Red Horne, the same DVD is used over and over again to transmit performances of Plaintiffs’ Copyrighted Works."

Made EVERY performance of EVERYTHING a public performance no matter how many people are there or where it happens because (sit down for this one): "those customers are nonetheless members of “the public.”"

This is amazing! because WE are MEMBERS of 'the public', ANYTHING WE SEE OR HEAR OR DO IS A PUBLIC PERFORMANCE!!!!!!

Better watch out the next time you and your significant other make love-even in your bedroom-you could be arrested for having sex in public thanks to this clown of a judge!