Court Tosses Suit Brought by ReplayTV Owners Against Studios, Networks

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on January 12, 2004 - 3:48am.

San Francisco -- A federal court has thrown out a case brought by owners of ReplayTV personal video recorders against Hollywood movie studios and TV networks, which asked for a ruling declaring that device features like skipping commercials and forwarding shows to other ReplayTV owners are legal. U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper on Friday ruled that essentially there was no need for a "declaratory" ruling because Hollywood had already dropped its case against ReplayTV maker Sonicblue, so ReplayTV owners had no legitimate fear of being sued. The ruling did not legalize the controversial features however, which were deleted from newer ReplayTV devices when Sonicblue was acquired by the parent company of Japanese consumer electronics firms Denon and Marantz.
http://www.eff.org/IP/Video/Newmark_v_Turner/20040109_end_case_pr.php
http://news.com.com/2100-1025_3-5139477.html
http://www.replaytv.com