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Mark Cuban to fund Grokster vs. MGM case.

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the mark-if-you-read-this-we-heart-you dept.

Deadric writes "According to Mark Cuban's latest blog entry, he will help fund the Grokster vs. MGM case, which threatens to destroy the Betamax shield."

2 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Mark Cuban by Wizy · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You can see what he has done in nearly every business he has run. He has made it work, made it run smooth and gotten a lot of money for it when he sold it off. He took the mavericks and made them into a contending team instead of a team that never had a chance of making the playoffs let alone winning anything.

    Its nice to see him getting in on this. He might be goofy and really into himself, but he is good at winning.

  2. The "Betamax shield" may not fit anyway. by Jeff+DeMaagd · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The Betamax shield doesn't necessarily fit the circumstances. With the analog VCR tech, there are generational losses and the machines aren't conducive to easy affordable mass-distribution because of their 1x record rates. One reason SCOTUS gave Betamax their blessings was that people at the time weren't trying to build libraries of videos, but rather watch TV shows at a more convenient time, but my impression of P2P users is that they are trying to build libraries, and of material that wasn't necessarily licenced for broadcast anyway. Even when the material was licenced for broadcast, the ads are often removed.

    With P2P, there are no generational losses and it doesn't require any money other than a working computer and an internet connection to distribute as many infringing copies as the user likes.