COPYCENSE

“The recording industry is suing XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. for copyright infringement over a new portable radio that offers iPod-like features.

“The lawsuit, filed yesterday in New York, is the latest escalation in a battle between major record labels and satellite radio providers over whether the satellite companies should pay more for giving subscribers the ability to compile music libraries. To stay competitive with Apple’s iPod and similar products, XM and Sirius Satellite Radio Inc. recently introduced radios with recording features. XM’s Inno and Sirius’s S50 allow subscribers to record as much as 50 hours of broadcast music, or search for songs by particular artists.

“XM and Sirius pay the labels for the right to broadcast music and have argued that the right to record music for personal use is included under that.”

Annys Shin. Music Labels Sue XM Over Recording Device. WashingtonPost.com. May 17, 2006.

See also:

Ars Technica. Music Industry Sues XM Radio for Offering Device Capable of Recording Music. May 17, 2006.

EFF Deep Links. Record Labels Sue XM Radio. May 17, 2006. (“Journalists covering the parade of copyright lawsuits arising out of new technologies often make the mistake of examining only the facts surrounding the individual disputes, rather than recognizing that they represent a coordinated strategic effort by the entertainment industry to change the copyright law jurisprudence that applies to everyone. Court rulings, after all, continue to cast a legal shadow long after the technologies involved have disappeared –just consider the Supreme Court’s 1984 Betamax ruling.”)

EFF Deep Links. Transmission + Reproduction != Distribution. February 27, 2006.

CopyCense™: K. Matthew Dames on the law, business, and technology of digital content. A business venture of Seso Digital LLC.