Legal: Listing of Legal Stories - Cedia Expo 2009

Legal

Friday, September 25, 2009

Envive Adds TheaterStation Multi-Zone Media Management

Following the legal battles involving RealDVD and Kaleidescape, Envive has re-launched its media servers to avoid the legal fray.

During CEDIA Expo 2009 the maker of TheaterStation media servers launched its Multi-Zone Digital Media Management System and TSClient Mini.

Envive CEO Chris Bortner — even though “I’m not a lawyer” — says he dashed many legal concerns from CE pros during CEDIA Expo by explaining the differences between TheaterStation and Kaleidescape.

“The difference between us and Kaleidescape is that our system is open,” Bortner says, referring to the fact that the Envive product does not require (or allow) DVDs to be copied directly onto the server. Instead, the device can accept content that is stored on other devices in the home, including PCs and NAS drives.

“Envive doesn’t enable the playing or copying of access- or copy-protected media out of the box,” Bortner says.

Posted by Tom LeBlanc on 09/25 at 09:50 AM
News, Digital Rights, Legal, Media Servers, Permalink

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bad Timing for Nortek Bankruptcy Announcement

Timing is everything, and the Nortek Chapter 11 bankruptcy announcement was really bad timing to happen in the middle of CEDIA Expo 2009.

As the news about the bankruptcy spread on the show floor, most of the Nortek companies were not there to quell speculation or anxiety among its dealer base.

Companies like Elan, Sunfire, Homelogic and Linear chose not to have exhibits at this year's show. OmniMount and SpeakerCraft did have strong presences in Atlanta and probably were sidetracked a bit by having to spend time talking to dealers about it vs. showing off products.

I heard some competitors of Elan adding fuel to the fire by raising doubt about the future of the company, telling integrators they should drop the line despite assurances from Nortek that the

Posted by Jason Knott on 09/14 at 06:37 AM
Blogs, Legal, CEDIA, Permalink

Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Latest on DVD Ripping: RealNetworks, Control4, Crestron, Kaleidescape

RealNetworks is causing quite a stir with a new DVD ripping program called RealDVD.

Big deal? The software appears to be the first from a studio-friendly, name-brand provider, and the company claims it is entirely legal.

From the RealDVD FAQ:

Is it legal to save movies with RealDVD?
Yes, provided that you are the owner of the original DVD and you use your saved copy solely for your personal use.

I'm not sure where this stipulation comes from – certainly not the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association), which licenses the decryption software to RealNetworks for DVD playback.

Even so, RealNetworks says it is abiding by the DVD CCA's licensing mandates because the ripped DVDs maintain their copy-protection wrapper (and, by the way, everything else about the DVDs including the extras).