p2pnet - rss feed: ReplayTV case dropped
A case brought by ReplayTV owners asking for a ruling which would have allowed other people with the devices join their lawsuit against 28 entertainment companies has been dismissed.
US District Court Judge Florence-Marie Cooper decided there’s no longer a live issue between the five clients - represented by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and San Rafael lawyer Ira Rothken - and the Hollywood firms.
EFF staff lawyer Gwen Hinze told p2pnet.net that’s because the entertainment companies promised not to sue the owners for copyright infringement for using their ReplayTV digital video recorders; and, because the firms had already dropped their suit against SonicBlue, the former owner of ReplayTV Inc, after it filed for bankruptcy and sold the technology to another company.
"This may be the first time that the entertainment industry has given a covenant not to sue consumers for copyright infringement," she says.
The Court ruled it was the allegations the entertainment companies made in that lawsuit - essentially, that users of ReplayTVs were engaged in copyright infringement - "that gave the Court jurisdiction to rule on the Newmark Plaintiffs’ request for a declaration in the first place, she goes on.
"However, once the entertainment companies withdrew their suit against SONICblue, they also effectively withdrew their copyright infringement claims against ReplayTV users. Therefore, the court decided that there was no longer a live issue to rule on."
Hinze says the EFF asked the Court to declare "affirmatively" what the ReplayTV owners’ right were.
"The entertainment companies didn’t sue the five consumer owners directly, but we argued threatened them indirectly with liability for copyright infringement because in order to win the entertainment companies’ lawsuit against SONICblue, the entertainment companies would have to prove that individual ReplayTV users commit copyright infringement when they use their DVRs," she says.
"Because the entertainment companies didn’t sue the consumer ReplayTV owners directly, they were not ‘defendants’, so we asked the court for an affirmative statement of what their rights are."
But the decision doesn’t preclude a new lawsuit being brought if the entertainment companies change their position and decide to sue (new) individual ReplayTV users, she says, adding:
"At that time, for instance, a new class action lawsuit might be brought."
