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Kaleidescape gets in line behind RealDVD for rough treatment

by Steven Kim posted Aug 13th 2009 at 6:44PM

DVD lawsuitWhen it rains it pours -- right on the heels of the punishing blow dealt to RealDVD, the money-laden Kaleidescape crowd suffered its own setback at the hands of the law. You just know that the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association) appealed the 2007 ruling that allowed Kaleidescape owners to rip DVDs to their media servers, and yesterday a California Appeals Court overturned that ruling. Next stop -- the Santa Clara Superior Court, which could place an injunction on Kaleidescape if the appeal is upheld. It's not over yet, but we're prepping the soundboard with ominous music, boos and noisy hand-wringing. Whatever (and whenever) the outcome, we can only hope that Blu-ray's Managed Copy comes to the scene sooner rather than later and settles this issue for our beloved HD content

Supreme Court declines to hear remote storage DVR appeal, cloud recording is on the way

by Richard Lawler posted Jun 29th 2009 at 12:53PM

It seems like Cablevision and others have been trying to roll out "remote storage" network DVRs forever, and now that the Supreme Court has decided against hearing the appeal of the Hollywood studios looking to block it, they should finally be able to deliver as soon as this summer. Of course, there's benefits to having a locally stored copy of I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, but just in case we forgot to queue up a recording, the power went out or suffered some other manner of catastrophe, we'd still have access to all the Lou Diamond Phillips anyone could ask for, and there's really no way the highest court in the land could get in the way of that.

Cable companies losing stranglehold on apartments

by Steven Kim posted May 29th 2009 at 1:14PM

Throwing TVIt's no secret that loads of folks loathe their cable company, but for some apartment dwellers, there's exactly one choice of service providers for TV, internet, and/or phone service. See, cable companies in some areas (read - anywhere they can) have negotiated exclusive distribution rights in buildings that they wired up, keeping other services at bay. Well, those castle walls are crumbling as a the Court of Appeals in Washington has upheld the 2007 FCC ruling that banned such practices as anticompetitive. Don't expect this decision to revamp the entire landscape -- cable companies are well-versed in how to keep competition down -- but this decision should make it easier for offerings like FiOS and U-verse to make inroads to dense metro areas. If all that's standing between you and FiOS is a shady cable company arrangement, now's your time to grab some fiber!

[Image courtesy Videogum]

DISH appeal denied by Supreme Court, TiVo to receive $104 million payout

by Steven Kim posted Oct 7th 2008 at 1:43PM

DISH fights TiVo
Bust out the forks, because it looks like the long-running dispute between DISH and TiVo is coming to an end (yes, again). The Supreme Court denied DISH's appeal in the DVR "time-warp" patent infringement case and in the next few day DISH will release $104 million ($94 million plus interest) from an escrow account to TiVo to cover damages stretching back to September 8, 2006. The dust isn't all settled, though, as there's more litigation in the pipeline regarding DISH's supposed workaround software currently deployed to its DVRs. Certainly, this is good news for TiVo's finances, but we'd really like to see some improvements with TiVo itself -- LiquidTV / TiVo PC is a small step in the right direction, but more advanced concepts are what we're calling for, here.

DISH Network can't stop, won't stop fighting TiVo, heads to Supreme Court; your DVR is safe

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 11th 2008 at 7:22PM

DISH Network hasn't taken "no" "denied" or "not yours" for an answer before in its battle against TiVo, and it's not going to start now. In a statement, the company expressed its plans to appeal the Federal Circuit's ruling against a rehearing to the Supreme Court. No matter how it ends, customers don't have to worry about jackbooted government agents (or software updates, whatever) stealing their precious DISH DVR functionality, because its "next generation" DVR software has already been downloaded to your box, and does not infringe on any patents. We'll leave this up to the lawyers to fight out (and write amusing disclaimers about), but in the meantime hit the read link to hear DISH's side of things.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

TiVo's win over DISH Network upheld by court of appeals: It's over

by Richard Lawler posted Apr 11th 2008 at 1:07PM Breaking News


Bad day for DISH Network, first its satellite is gone for good and now comes word its appeal to overturn TiVo's lawsuit has been denied. That should put an end to the legal push and pull between the companies, with TiVo firmly on top, DISH customers could have their DVRs pulled out from under them. Win in hand, TiVo has a lot more leverage against other providers to put its service on their boxes, (which might not be the worst thing if you've used some cable DVRs) and leaves the company looking a lot more lively.

[Thanks Zatz Not Funny & Thomas Hawk]




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