FCC v. public interest

[Dave Harris]

The famous Universal v. Sony decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court two decades ago, established John Public's right to record content and watch it at some later point. Time shifting, the right to make a copy of that which you legally obtained was the law. Universal and Disney, the original losing plaintiff's never relented and they have succeeded in getting the decision reversed by a mere govermental agency, the FCC.

The broadcast flag to prevent digital copying of digital TV, has been passed unanimously by the FCC. Touted by MPAA chieftain Valenti as "big victory for consumers and preservation of high value of over-the-air free broadcasting", one can only suspect the worst. The flag allows copy protect of content which is no longer protected by copyright law, and just imagine how useful the flag is when it comes to abolish the time shift right of the viewer.

[John Whittle]

Originally posted by Dave Harris
The famous Universal v. Sony decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court two decades ago, established John Public's right to record content and watch it at some later point. Time shifting, the right to make a copy of that which you legally obtained was the law. Universal and Disney, the original losing plaintiff's never relented and they have succeeded in getting the decision reversed by a mere govermental agency, the FCC.


Actually, the real problem was the Betamax which was claimed was a machine which was illegal because it couldn't be used for a legal purpose. It's interesting to read the full ruling which is available on lilne at the Home Recording Rights Coalition. (www.hrrc.org) Common public memory was it was the right to record, but it wasn't that issue at all, it was the right to SELL a machine which could record video programs. Currently when you buy a cassette or blank CD, there is a royalty paid to the Library of Congress. I don't know if it also applies to video cassettes.

They are one organization that is fighting to make it legal to record and time shift.

It is worth recalling that in the original Sony lawsuit that (A) no one claimed that their copyright was infringed and the only thing to be recorded at the time was "off the air" and (B) Universal and Disney had won the suit and it was almost not heard by the Supreme Court and then the decision was a 5-4 vote. So it was a very close call on every point.

Things have changed alot in the following years (almost 30) and the motion picture industry would certainly be different if there was no home video market.

BUT beware, both the FCC and the Librarian of the Library of Congress of ruled on this issue and its based on the DMCA. Until Congress changes the laws I don't think this will change soon.

When it does change, it'll be too late. In another 20 years I don't think that we'll have physical media and the copyright holders will have obtained their goal of removing the "first sale" from their works.

Every attemp to do this so far (and there have been many, remember the Sony and ABC plan that delivered scrambled movies to your VCR late at night which you could only watch as long as you paid your subscription? Or the EBook that disappeared when you bought another book?) has been a marketing failure, but they haven't stopped trying over the past 20 years and there are actually plans for methods that the rights holders think will work.

John