Copyright and Patent Silliness (Cablevision and Microsoft)

March 26, 2007 9:46 AM by Stephan Kinsella (Archive)

Cablevision Loses Network DVR Court Case reports that Cablevision has lost a legal battle against several Hollywood studios and television networks to introduce a network-based digital video recorder service to its subscribers. Many cable subscribers now use in-home set-top DVRs. "Cablevision had hoped a network-based DVR system, called Remote Storage DVR or RS-DVR, would have done away with the need for the installation of hundreds of thousands of digital set-top boxes in subscribers' homes. This would potentially have saved Cablevision significant administration and maintenance costs."

In other words, instead of renting the customer a DVR which is used in the customer's home to record TV shows, the functionality of the box would be at the cable company's facilities, and the user could access the content over the cable network. But the judge held that this service violates copyright. There is something facially suspect about a legal regime that turns on the physical location of a storage medium--that in essence criminalizes the use of a network to communicate with a piece of hardware.

Microsoft Strikes Broad Patent Deal with Fuji Xerox reports that "Microsoft has struck a patent agreement with Fuji Xerox that gives the Redmond software maker access to broad patents relating to document management systems that it can use in existing and future products." So two large companies spend millions of dollars acquiring patents. Largely to use to countersue any competitor who might sue them for infringing the competitor's patents. Two of them make a deal not to sue each other, and this is praised as if real value has been created.

***

See also Judge Geeks Out, Says Cablevision DVR Infringes