When VCRs were first sold, companies like Disney and Universal...
Posted in full at: https://ift.tt/2YCLC41 on July 07, 2019 at 10:14PM
When VCRs were first sold, companies like Disney and Universal Studies sued Sony (who manufactured the Betamax VCR) claiming that recording TV shows and movies that had been broadcast over the air was copyright infringement. And because they made the VCRs, Sony was liable for contributing to the infringement. The media corporations also sued individual owners of the VCRs. (this is the over simplified version, read more here)
Shortly before the lawsuit, Jim Lowe, a staff director for the Florida state legislature started publishing a newsletter for fans of the new tech where they could talk about VCRs (or Betamax VTRs as they were called - Video Tape Recorder) and offer to buy and sell tapes. He too was pulled into the lawsuit and deposed and they demanded the names and addresses of his subscribers.
Ultimately the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the new technology finding it fair use. But for a few years well into the 1980s, some fan conventions were hesitant to offer formal “Video Rooms” to show hard to access TV shows and movies.
Corporations are like bullies, focusing on stuffing themselves full of profits, while trampling over anyone who stands in their way.
You can read the first few issues of the Videophile’s Newsletter online here.
Tags:copyright, fair use, VCRs, fandom history adjacent, corporate greed, dwcrosspost
Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
[A Dreamwidth post with
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When VCRs were first sold, companies like Disney and Universal Studies sued Sony (who manufactured the Betamax VCR) claiming that recording TV shows and movies that had been broadcast over the air was copyright infringement. And because they made the VCRs, Sony was liable for contributing to the infringement. The media corporations also sued individual owners of the VCRs. (this is the over simplified version, read more here)
Shortly before the lawsuit, Jim Lowe, a staff director for the Florida state legislature started publishing a newsletter for fans of the new tech where they could talk about VCRs (or Betamax VTRs as they were called - Video Tape Recorder) and offer to buy and sell tapes. He too was pulled into the lawsuit and deposed and they demanded the names and addresses of his subscribers.
Ultimately the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of the new technology finding it fair use. But for a few years well into the 1980s, some fan conventions were hesitant to offer formal “Video Rooms” to show hard to access TV shows and movies.
Corporations are like bullies, focusing on stuffing themselves full of profits, while trampling over anyone who stands in their way.
You can read the first few issues of the Videophile’s Newsletter online here.
Tags:copyright, fair use, VCRs, fandom history adjacent, corporate greed, dwcrosspost
Tumblr post (this is likely a reblog, and may have more pictures over there)
[A Dreamwidth post with
comments | Post or read on Dreamwidth| How to use OpenID]