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Re: [dvd-discuss] LA Times Article about Replay TV lawsuits



On Mon, 11 Feb 2002 15:57:43 -0600, Stephen L Johnson wrote:

>OK. Today I've woken up and find myself in the Twilight Zone. 
>
>Here is an article in the LA Times about the Replay TV lawsuits:
>
>http://www.latimes.com/business/la-000010608feb11.story?coll=la-headlines-busin
>ess
>
>The movie studio's lawsuit is the most unbelievable. I think their IP lawyers 
>have finally lost their minds. A quote from the article to illustrate:
>
>  "The suit filed by MGM, Fox, Universal Studios and Orion Pictures goes
>   furthest, arguing that it's illegal to let consumers record and store shows
>   based on the genre, actors or other words in the program description."
>
>Things that a consumer do with a VCR, a TV Guide and a bunch of tapes is 
>legal, but doing it with a computer is illegal? It alright if it's not too 
>convenient? If any Court finds for the movie studios in any fashion, I think 
>I'll lose what little faith I have for the US legal system.

Well, now that Sony Betamax is virtually repealed, they can assert anything
they want. After all, "digital is different." Or so they say.

Perhaps they can expand this to being "illegal to let consumers watch shows
based on genre, actors, program description or any personal preference." 
They can repeal the remote control. (But just try to wrest that gadget from
my cold dead hands.) Perhaps now--ala Clockwork Orange--anyone will watch
what they must, not what they want.

They haven't lost their minds--they've lost ours.

Or else...

  |There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is 
  |known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space 
  |and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle 
  |ground between light and shadow, between science 
  |and superstition, and it lies between the pit of 
  |man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This 
  |is the dimension of imagination. It is an area 
  |we call The Twilight Zone.
        __________NO-∞-DO__________