SONICblue Inc. will not have to keep tabs on the ad-deleting habits of the owners
of personal video recorders made by subsidiary ReplayTV.
On Monday, the judge who stayed a lower court's ruling that SONICblue needed
to supply entertainment companies with anonymous records of how customers use
the device overturned the decision.
Programmers including the "Big Three" networks, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., Vivendi Universal and AOL Time
Warner Inc. had argued that ReplayTV helps customers to break copyright laws.
The Consumer Electronics Association, which supported SONICblue, applauded
the decision as a victory for fair-use doctrine.
"Forcing a company to change its product in order to conduct surveillance on
its customers is unreasonable and inappropriate," the CEA's Michael
Petricone said.
