Cablevision to Appeal Remote DVR Ruling

Cablevision is set to appeal a March ruling which found that its plans to offer a remote DVR service infringed on the copyrights of the broadcast networks, it said Tuesday.

The cable operator initially announced its plans in March of last year, which called for the storage of programming on the company's own servers rather than on the set-top box itself. Several networks objected to the plans.

Ignoring their complaints, Cablevision pressed on with the service, which led to a lawsuit in May 2006. The networks argued the company would need to license the content, but Cablevision argued the process was no different than a traditional DVR.

District Judge Denny Chin put an end to those plans last month, ruling that recording the program would amount to "unauthorized reproductions and transmissions of plaintiffs' copyrighted programs." Thus, the company was barred from launching the product.

Obviously, Cablevision disagreed with Chin, announcing its intentions to appeal. "We continue to believe strongly that remote-storage DVR is permissible under current copyright laws," chief operating officer Tom Rutledge said in a statement.

It is seeking to have the appeal expedited through the Court of Appeals, likely in an aim to allow it to offer the service as soon as possible if the company receives a ruling in its favor.

Cablevision has argued that the current case is quite similar to one filed against Sony in 1984, which prevailed against the motion picture industry in a landmark Supreme Court ruling that made it legal to record movies off of television for personal use.