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Zediva Gets Shut Down...Permanently
Will Pay $1.8 Million and Drop Countersuit
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 lacked the necessary streaming licenses -- and got a Judge to shut the service down temporarily back in August, effectively ruling that that the length of a cord determines if something is infringing. This week Zediva was shut down permanently, agreeing to pay $1.8 million in fines while agreeing to drop their countersuit and any planned appeals.

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MyDogHsFleas
Premium Member
join:2007-08-15
Austin, TX

2 recommendations

MyDogHsFleas

Premium Member

Length of a cord? No. Wrong.

If this company provided a service to play your own DVDs over the network, then it would be a "length of the cord" issue.

But, they didn't. They buy the DVDs, they "rent" them to customers (a transparent dodge), then they stream them down to the customers.

This is exactly what video-on-demand services do. You rent a video for $X, and you get to view it at home without physically possessing it.

The judge was completely correct in demolishing this sham.

And Karl, predictably, throws misleading red meat out there to the haters to stir them up.

This kind of stuff does not help the cause. Seriously.