Today’s decision saves cable companies from having to do this.
The Second Circuit today reversed a summary judgment for Cartoon Network and other programming providers in a case accusing cable operators of directly infringing the programmers’ copyrights in SpongeBob SquarePants, CNN news, and Dude, Where’s My Car? (2000), among other television and cinematographic triumphs.
The lawsuit concerned a system for allowing cable subscribers to designate programs for future recording and eventual (hah!) playback. But the system, unlike a playback device that sits in your living room or over your favorite bar, the "Remote Storage" Digital Video Recorder ("RS-DVR") system put the subscribers’ choices on hard disks in some enormous server farm. The programmers alleged that the off-premises recording and playback constituted direct infringement of their copyrights. The district court agreed.
But not the Second Circuit. It held that the works never become "fixed" in a tangible medium during the 1.2 seconds or less that the "buffering" process takes to store the programs on the cable companies’ servers. That part of the process, the court concluded, thus didn’t satisfy the definition of "fixed", which requires fixation "for a period of more than transitory duration". The Cartoon Network LP v. CSC Holdings, Inc., Nos. 07-1480 & 07-1511-cv, slip op. at 13-21 (2d Cir. Aug. 4, 2008) (applying 17 U.S.C. 101).
The court also rejected the argument that the cable guys made "copies" of the programs. The subscribers made the volitional choice to slap the programs on the hard disks; the cable companies simply provided the means for gratifying their wishes. Id. at 21-29.
Finally, the panel ruled that the RS-DVR system didn’t "transmit" the movies and shows "publicly". Because the transmissions went only to the specific subscribers, respectively, who punched the right buttons on their remote controls. Id. at 29-44.
