HHR New Media, Entertainment and Technology Group

It is no surprise that the move to the cloud is in full swing. New methods of content distribution and consumption, coupled with the widespread proliferation of IP-enabled consumer devices, are driving the public’s relentless desire for “any content anywhere”.  The success of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon on Demand, Flickr, and the emergence of novel content authentication and delivery standards like the Digital Entertainment Content Ecosystem’s (DECE) Ultraviolet exemplify the entertainment industry’s investment in and increased reliance on cloud-based distribution platforms and business models. Now, as music makes a similar move to the cloud with the recent emergence of Amazon CloudDrive, Apple’s iCloud and GoogleMusic, stakeholders across all forms of entertainment have officially ent ered the equation. But while cloud integration continues to gain speed in the foreground, a host of new legal issues are emerging in the background as the convergence of new cloud-based storage mechanisms and channels of distribution with entertainment content continues to usher in novel copyright questions for stakeholders to grapple with. At present, the legal questions currently surrounding digital lockers and the “cloudification” of entertainment content are focused primarily on the balance between copyright holders’ exclusive rights to reproduce and publicly perform their works and consumers and service providers ability to make lawful use of such content through emerging technologies, in each instance, without directly or secondarily infringing copyright holders’ rights. Continue Reading »

Cablevision can move forward with its plans to move its digital video recording service into the cloud, thanks to the Supreme Court’s refusal to hear the broadcast industry’s appeal of a decision granting summary judgment in favor of Cablevision.

While consumer DVRs have been used for years, Cablevision sought to launch a service for the remote storage of shows recorded by consumers.  Cablevision’s argument in favor of such service was that, as long as consumers were still in control of the recording, playback and deletion process, the location of the hard drive on which the content was stored didn’t matter.  Broadcasters disagreed, however, claiming that by archiving and retransmitting the content, Cablevision was engaging in copyright infringement. Continue Reading »