Gadget Geek

I'm not just a nerd (with respect to copyright), but I'm also a geek (with respect to gadgets). I must give kudos to a blog run by an Australian Intellectual Property (that's IP, not Internet Protocol) academic. I've added their blog link, it's named Weatherall's Law - because Kimberlee Weatherall is the name of the academic. She has a good writing style. If you ever want to grab a small dose of 'current affairs' IP debate, read her blog.

ANYWAY - the fun thing about copyright law, is that its got so much to do with hi-tech stuff and gadgets. Allow me to demonstrate. If you have a TV, you may want to get a Digital Set Top Box (STB) in order to get clearer reception, and access to extra channels like ABC2. If you want to replace your VCR, and do away with video cassette tapes, you may wish to upgrade your STB to an Personal Video Recorder (PVR) aka Digital Video Recorder (DVR). PVR seems to be more common in households, while the term DVR appears to be used for commercial uses such as surveillance.

Anyway, a PVR records your TV show onto a built in hard drive. All decent PVRs have a timer function, just like your usual VCR. However, PVRs also have the capability to store and use an Electronic Program Guide (EPG). Its basically your TV, but used by your PVR and displayed on your TV. The beauty with this thing is that you can set your PVR to record all instances of a particular program, not matter when it shows. So, if you really like Futurama or The Simpsons, you just tell the PVR to record all broadcasts of those shows, even if they appear irregularly or erratically.

The big problem in Australia (and is regarded as something that is holding Australia back in the technology dark ages) is that EPGs are very difficult to come by. You see, you want your PVR to update its EPG regularly, automatically. That usually means that your PVR will need to connect to the internet or a computer, and upload an updated EPG file to its PVR programming hardware.

So, who compiles, makes and distributes these files? There is basically one main market leader in this area in Australia, IceTV. Presumably, the folks at IceTV spend most of their time either reading TV Week, typing up the week's program schedules for the various TV networks, converting them into EPG files, and putting them on their servers. The main PVR product that uses the IceTV EPG system is Topfield, also a market leader in the Australian PVR market.

If you have time, read this article.
In short, Channel Nine is suing IceTV because of this EPG file making/publishing. What's the official reason? COPYRIGHT!! Channel Nine are basically attempting to assert copyright over their weekly schedule (not the program's themselves, that's a given, but just the schedule), and that IceTV are infringing copyright by copying, compiling and publishing this schedule through their EPG system. IceTV are claiming that they are merely compiling already public information.

The first hearing will be in the Federal Court of Australia in NSW, Court Room 20C on Monday 16th October at 10:15am. If you're in town, you might want to stop by. By the way, the filing number is NSD935/2006.

So, why is this a huge caper? Well, one of the best features of a PVR is the "set and forget" feature of an EPG. The Topfield PVRs, are usually sold with a 12 month IceTV EPG subscription (yes, you gotta pay for the EPG service, at least in Australia). To manually enter in all the programs and times from all the networks every week would make a PVR even MORE work than your VCR. If IceTV lose this case, it would be a significant setback for the EPG system in Australia, and also a setback for the PVR industry. Nevertheless, the PVRs are steadily gaining ground in Australia, as the prospect of skipping your advertisements during your viewing of Futurama or Law & Order or whatever, combined with getting rid of VHS tapes, combined with being able to record someting in the range of 55 hours of TV, combined with crystal clear reception, will be so enticing that people will be willing to part with their $100's to $1000's of hard earned cash.

And I haven't even touched on the even bigger copyright issue on the horizon associated with PVRs, the new time-shifting laws that will come into force on 1 January 2006. If I ever get around to it (I really need to start on my European Tax Law assignment!), I'll write an article (no guarantees on brevity) about time-shifting.

Allow me to part with these questions:

Before reading this article, did you know what a PVR was?
How much would you be willing to pay for a PVR?
What kind of features would you want in your PVR?