Australia’s Federal Court has decided that personal video recorders in the cloud violate (PVRs) sporting groups’ copyright. The decision came in a case that saw Australia’s Rugby League sue telco Optus over its Tv Now service. TV Now allows subscribers to record television programs and then stream them to their mobile devices …

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Friday 27th April 2012 08:39 GMT g e

You'd have thought

Something like TV Now would make a 'jolly good' service addon if bought by Foxtel....

Mind you, that would involve a large corp thinking about its customers as 'those who make its continued existence possible' instead of 'revenue stream'

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Friday 27th April 2012 09:02 GMT Ken Hagan

"private and domestic use"

Sounds reasonable. These Optus people don't *sound* either private or domestic by my understanding of the word. In fact, although the article doesn't mention it, it have a sneaking suspicision we're talking about "business or commercial use".

It seems perfectly reasonable to me that "private and domestic" users might enjoy rights that businesses don't. It's one way in which the law can protect the little guy against big business. I'd really hate to see such rights eroded because someone abused them.

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1. Friday 27th April 2012 11:24 GMT BristolBachelor
  
  Re: "private and domestic use"
  
  I don't think that it is that clear cut.
  
  I mean if you set up your video to record a program, you aren't recording the program are you? Mr. Sony VCR on top of your telly is recording the program.
  
  Is Mr. Sony VCR afforded the same rights as a person? If it is, what happens if you don't have room on top of your telly for Mr. Sony VCR? If it sits on a shelf instead, is that OK? What if the shelf is in another building?
  
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  1. Friday 27th April 2012 13:37 GMT san1t1
    
    Re: "private and domestic use"
    
    This is what oAuth is for...
    
    ... "Do you authorize TVNow to record our shows on your behalf?"
    
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Friday 27th April 2012 09:28 GMT nichobe

Customers lose...

again....

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Friday 27th April 2012 09:50 GMT tkioz

While this might suck for the customers... I think the judges made the right call, the LAST thing we want in this country is judges ruling that corporations are "people" like they did in the U.S and have the same rights as individuals

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1. Friday 27th April 2012 10:14 GMT Anonymous Coward
  
  Yes...
  
  Imagine if companies had voting rights... Shudder...
  
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  1. Friday 27th April 2012 13:07 GMT Martin 47
    
    Re: Yes...
    
    they would still buy a politician or two.
    
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2. Monday 30th April 2012 00:56 GMT P. Lee
  
  My understanding is that recording only happens if a real person requests it and is only accessible by the person who requests it. The whole sequence is "real person" controlled. Optus is just providing the hardware. Optus were not recording the programme and then saying, "Hey everyone, come around and watch the game with me for free."
  
  It seems mad that Optus customers can't outsource PVR hardware provision because the league wanted to sell the viewing rights twice. Had they just sold the viewing rights once, this would not have been an issue. A phone is a computer. A digital TV is a computer. A PVR is a computer and a TV signal is just a (radio-wave) network. Online is not different from TV.
  
  It seems Telstra just paid to make things awkward for everyone else. I'm somewhat irritated that my 3G connection costs will be higher because Telstra is trying to prevent Optus customers from using a rather efficient and cool system for something they are allowed to do. Given the intense Australian heat and rather unstable power, cloud PVRs make a lot of sense here. It's just like a Telstra T-Box moved to the other end of the WAN link. I suspect that it isn't just about the sports.
  
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