The Copyright Alliance, a coalition representing a diverse range of artists and creative industries, yesterday filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review a ruling that appeared to open the door for Cablevision Systems Corp. (CVC) to finally deploy its long-planned digital video recorder network service early next year.
The group urged the Supreme Court, in what it claims to be the first such request it has ever made, to review a lower court decision that it says threatens to upend the market for creative works and undermine years of legal precedent.
“The decision below could be so detrimental to the health of our copyright system,” said the group in its brief. “Although this case arose in the context of reproduction and public performance of audio-visual works by a cable systems operator, its potential impact across copyright industries is much broader.”
The Copyright Alliance says the cableco has created a service which “uses automation to make numerous copies of copyrighted programming and re-transmits it to customers on demand without licensing that delivery from the copyright owners.”
A lower court said the Cablevision Remote Access-DVR service was a violation of copyright law. But, in a fairly recent development, the Second Circuit overturned this decision.
The copyright group says the premise is simple. “The Second District’s ruling suggests one can circumvent copyright law by implementing an absurdly complex and woefully inefficient delivery system that would have made the late Rube Goldberg proud,” said Copyright Alliance executive director Patrick Ross, in prepared comments. ”If this decision stands, it could cause harm across the copyright industries. It runs counter to the very heart of copyright as an incentive system that has made America’s creative works the most vibrant and sought after in the world.”
Cablevision sees nothing illegal about its long-planned service.
“We are confident in the legality of remote-storage DVR and are proceeding with our development of the service,” said the company in prepared comments.
The Copyright Alliance describes itself as “a non-profit, non-partisan educational organization dedicated to the value of copyright as an agent for creativity, jobs and growth.” Its members include: American Federation of Television & Radio Artists; American Intellectual Property Law Association; American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; CBS Corp. and Major League Baseball.
Other members include Microsoft; Motion Picture Association of America; NBC Universal; Newspaper Association of America; News Corp.; Sony Pictures Entertainment; Time Warner; Universal Music Group; Viacom; The Walt Disney Company; and Writers Guild of America, West.
