Copyright Law

Supreme Court still hasn't decided whether to review 2nd Circuit ruling about online video recording by Cablevision

By Ty Rogers and Ray Beckerman

You may recall that awhile back we reported on an interesting decision in the US Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit regarding Cablevision's remote video recording by subscribers, in Cartoon Networks v. CSC Holdings.

According to this interview with Gigi Sohn of Public Knowledge, the Court has not yet decided whether to grant the MPAA's petition for writ of certiorari seeking review of the 2nd Circuit ruling.

What I found odd about the 2nd Circuit case is that (a) although "fair use" was the most logical defense to be employed in view of the Supreme Court's holding in the SONY Betamax case, the defendant had stipulated to waive that defense, and (b) although the easier legal theory for plaintiff to prove would have been secondary, rather than primary, copyright infringement, the MPAA had stipulated to waive that line of attack.

In her interview, Ms. Sohn discusses the obvious fair use defense, but I'm not sure why she does, since as I recall the defendant had waived it.

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Full post as published by Recording Industry vs The People on May 09, 2009 (boomark / email).