Background: A U.S. District Court in New York City today ruled against Cablevision's remote recording service in a lawsuit brought by Fox and others. The following statement is attributed to Gigi B. Sohn, president and co-founder of Public Knowledge:
“This short-sighted decision makes no sense in an era of technological innovation. The judge was wrong to make an artificial distinction between a set-top box used for lawful recording and the remote service offered by Cablevision used for the same function. He also failed to take into account the ephemeral nature of digital content in a computer buffer, which is a necessary part of the recording process but remains unseen by the consumer.
“This is a decision that if upheld will stifle innovation and consumer choice. It is nonsensical at best and extremely harmful at worst. The only saving grace is that it shows the need for Congress to update our copyright laws to conform to today's technology.”
A copy of the decision is available here.
Members of the media may contact Communications Director Shiva Stella with inquiries, interview requests, or to join the Public Knowledge press list at shiva@publicknowledge.org or 405-249-9435.