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Can Cable Companies Store Shows For Us?
NewYorkCountryLawyer writes "Last August I reported that the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit had defeated the MPAA's attempt to label as copyright infringement a cable operator's storing video for later reuse at the request of its subscribers, in Cartoon Networks v. CSC Holdings. The MPAA has petitioned the US Supreme Court to review that holding. According to a recent interview with Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, the High Court has not yet decided whether to grant the MPAA's petition seeking review. What I found odd about the 2nd Circuit decision (PDF) is that (a) although 'fair use' was the most logical defense to be employed in view of the Supreme Court's holding in SONY Betamax, upholding a VCR's 'time shifting' of a broadcast television show as a 'fair use,' the defendant in Cartoon Networks has stipulated to waive 'fair use,' and (b) although the easier legal theory for plaintiff to prove would have been secondary, rather than primary, copyright infringement (i.e. Cablevision's encouraging and inducing its customers to make unauthorized copies), the MPAA has stipulated to waive that line of attack. I.e. neither plaintiffs nor defendants seized the 'low hanging fruit.' In her interview, Ms. Sohn discusses the fair use defense, but I'm not sure why she does, since as I recall the defendant has waived it."
We had a symposium on this issue, and a lawyer talked from the plaintiff's side. Much of their theory dealt with the length of the cable, based purely on a statutory reading. While I understand he has a duty to attempt to apply the statute in his client's best interests, his construction made little sense. Still, he had to rely on that construction to get around Sony. Essentially, it is legal for me to time shift in my house. So why can't I put my time shift device outside of my house, say in a warehouse with a lot of other time shift devices? And what if I make those time shift devices virtual devices on a single server? His point was that moving the device outside of my house was the difference-it became a transmission. He could not provide a length of cable that would trigger that definition, though. And, of course, he was speaking for his client at the time. I will be curious to see how this case works out if SCOTUS does take it. The statutes need some re-writing, honestly.
Yes but the whole time-shifting issue has to do with fair use, which was taken out of the case by stipulation. Note that the 2nd Circuit decision doesn't discuss that issue at all other than to mention that the issue is not before them.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I wonder what would have happened if someone had filed an Amicus curiae in this case stating either (or both) of the low hanging fruit defenses.
That would be out of the question. If the parties stipulated to waive certain issues, an amicus could not re-inject it.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
By the way, here's an article I wrote for the Journal of Internet Law, which discusses, at page 19, the main issue in the Cartoon Networks case which is "When is a copy transitory?" And here's an editorial comment I wrote for my blog after learning of the Cartoon Networks decision.
Ray Beckerman +5 Insightful
I don't think you can say "I'm not going to use this argument" and then appeal a ruling you don't like to introduce that argument. As I understand it, appeals are to correct errors in the judicial process; you don't get to bring new arguments about the original case to the table.
Besides, you can't appeal past the Supreme Court.
I know in criminal courts, prosecutors often "hold things back" so that they can launch a different line of prosecution in case their primary line is defeated. I do not know if similar techniques are used in tort cases.
A slashdotter who didn't build his own computer is like a Jedi who didn't build his own lightsaber.
WRONG. The "Broadcast Flag" was never instituted - it is a purely optional (and almost universally ignored by non-cable-company-hardware) standard. Furthermore it was digital only - so all your NTSC adapters that work with cable continue to work fine. Second no ATSC/QAM tuner i've ever seen even offered support for this hardly-implemented non-mandated anti-fair-use idea.
My mythBox is about the size of two VCRs, has 1 TB of storage, is attached to my 100base ethernet, I can manage my recordings over the web. I can use Hulu on it. I could (and might) install Boxee (i'd prefer to use mythVodka if they ever get that plugin working well). And has numerous other abilities that your two VCRs just cannot do.... MAME anyone?
If you cannot keep politics out of your moderation remove yourself from the Mod Lottery.. NOW!
According to the Second Circuit's opinion(yes, I did read it), this is not a transmission issue per se. The time shifted program was clearly transmitted within the meaning of the Copyright Act; that was not disputed. The issue is whether the that transmission was to the public as is required by the relevant provision of the Copyright Act at issue in this case. Considering the technology used by the defendant, the Court held that it was not a public transmission relying heavily on the fact that the program is recorded at the customer's direction and the customer's requested program is encoded on the server so only the customer's cable box can retrieve it. So the scenarios you spin would all seem permitted by this holding as there is no transmission to the public in any of them that I can see.
If so, they've done a pretty poor job. The circuit court decision is pretty good
1) It rejects the notion that buffering a work necessarily infringes on the reproduction right. (that doctrine would make playing most digital media a reproduction, giving legal teeth to playback restrictions)
2) It rejects (following Netcom) direct liability for the operator of a system which makes copies automatically at the request of someone else.
3) It rejects broad readings of the "public performance" clause which says that all commercial performances are public, and that multiple performances of the a work to individuals, even if based off different copies of the same work, constitute public performance. (Remember the claims that Kindle text-to-speech constitutes public performance? This decision cuts the legs out from most such arguments)