Quote:
Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward
That is something for which there is an explicit statue (DCMA), that results in a situation that has not been adjudicated. The Betamax decision clearly states the right to "time shift". DCMA prevents that right from being exercised. You never know how the SCOTUS will rule on anything, but the clear precedent would be to overrule the DCMA for "time-shifting". The SONYs of the world have found it simpler to "blow off" the US market and sell to the rest of the world, rather that fund another court case. A classic example of the "chilling effect", in action...
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You're certainly right about the makers of BluRay recorders not entering the US market, but I'm not so sure about your point about the right to time-shift being unable to be exercised. Most US TV programmes are transmitted with "record once" DRM, which means that they can be recorded on hard disk recorders (ie TiVo-style devices). That allows them to be watched with time-shifting (in accordance with the Betamax decision), but the hard disk recording can't then be copied to any other medium (eg DVD or BluRay) for permanent storage. That seems like a pretty reasonable interpretation of the Betamax decision.