TV Networks Sue Maker of Digital Video Recorder

The three major television networks filed a suit in federal court inLos Angeles on Wednesday, suing ReplayTV, the maker of the firstInternet-ready personal digital video recorder. The networks say a soonto ship device, the ReplayTV 4000, allows people to make and distributeillegal copies of television programs.

The lawsuit, filed by NBC, ABC and CBS, claims that in its presentform, SONICblue Inc.'s ReplayTV 4000 would violate their copyrights byallowing users to distribute copies of programs over the Internet. Likesimilar devices now on the market, the new ReplayTV product allowsconsumers to record television shows onto a built-in hard disk, insteadof video tape. The networks also complained that technology in thepersonal video recorder can automatically strip out commercials.

In a joint statement, the networks said the device "deprives thecopyright owners of the means by which they are paid for their creativecontent and thus reduces the incentive to create programming and makeit available to the public."

The ReplayTV 4000, scheduled to ship in November, has not yet beenreleased for sale to the public. The product goes further than pastdevices which let viewers instantly skip ahead 30 seconds, a featurethat could be used to jump past commercials. The model 4000 gives theviewers the option of automatically deleting commercials from videorecordings. Another new feature in the product called “sendshow” lets users forward digital copies of programs over theInternet to other ReplayTV users.

SONICblue officials said they have not seen the lawsuit but stressedthey took precautions against a Napster-like unfettered distribution oftelevision programming.

The company limited the number of times -- to 15 -- in which a usercould send a particular show to another ReplayTV 4000 owner, orso-called "TV buddy." A recorded show could only be sent, or resent toanother user, a maximum of 15 times.

"I think we've treaded softly," SONICblue's chief executive KenPotashner said.

The product also supports a digital rights copy protectiontechnology made by Macrovision, giving broadcast networks the option touse that technology to restrict consumers from sending copies of a showover the Internet.

"The idea is not mass distribution of TV programming," SteveShannon, ReplayTV's vice president of marketing said in Septemberduring the product announcement. "We want to be cooperative with the(television) industry as we explore these different businessmodels."

Potashner was optimistic the copyright issues would eventually sortout, much in the same way record labels years ago sued Rio, the firstmaker of portable MP3 music players, and then later became businesspartners of Rio, which is now owned by SONICblue.

"The content providers are ultimately going to be our partners,"Potashner said. He added that SONICblue is already discussing differentbusiness models with some of the same networks named as plaintiffs onthe lawsuit.

The networks did not object to earlier versions of the ReplayTVrecorder or a rival recording device called TiVo. Both allow users tofast-forward through commercials but have not included technology toautomatically delete them or to share the files of the recordedshows.

The networks make two arguments in their complaint. First, that theautomatic stripping of commercials "harms the potential market for andvalue of" their programming. They said they were not challenging thewidespread consumer practice of recording shows on VCRs or otherdevices.

Second, the networks said the ability of ReplayTV 4000 users toshare copies of recorded shows through high-speed Internet connectionswould also undermine the value of media company copyrights.

The second argument bears similarity to the basis for the casesuccessfully brought against the online music file-sharing serviceNapster by the major record companies. Unlike Napster, however, theReplayTV 4000 is a standalone device designed for home use byconsumers.