Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

SonicBlue Going w/ReplayTV 4000 Despite Lawsuit

Posted by Hemos on from the me-wants dept.

Ughhgu writes "Looks like SonicBlue is going to go ahead and start shipping. The Cnet article even has a quote from SonicBlue. It seems they can't understand why the industry would sue them. Sign me up for one!" I'd dearly love to test one of these.

2 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. Ever heard of "capitalism"? by Logic+Bomb · · Score: 5, Insightful
    Such devices, the suit contends, deprive the networks of revenue and reduce their incentive to produce new shows.

    Translation: "Our business model is antiquated, and instead of trying to find a new way we're just going to sue anyone who takes advantage of it." Methinks the networks want immunity from the darwinian aspect of capitalism. As I'm sure has been said on /. before, perhaps it's just time to find a better way.

  2. Re:Truth in advertising... by RedX · · Score: 5, Insightful
    If SonicBlue ever sends down an update that takes away functionality that is advertised (printed on the box, mentioned on their website, etc), then they would do this at their own peril. It'd be like shouting, "I hope all of our customers get together and file a class action lawsuit against us!"

    As someone else pointed out in this thread, the legalease on their site states "SONICblue reserves the right to automatically add, modify, or disable any features in the operating software when your ReplayTV 4000 connects to our server."

    What I envision happening at some point is a judge declaring that ReplayTV 4000 can only share programs that the networks allow them to, sort of an opt-in for the networks. So technically Sonicblue wouldn't be guilty of false advertising since you can still share *some* programs. At any rate, the disclaimer above seems to cover them removing features as they please.