[mythtv-users] Heads up Aussies - EPG supply in Australia

[Rev Simon Rumble]

This one time, at band camp, Bruce Nordstrand wrote:
> All the Aussies on the list...
> 
> I just heard on the news that Channel Nine's court case against IceTV 
> over the supply of (copyright) EPG information has finished today. 
> Channel 9 has lost the case (yet I am sure they will appeal) basically 
> opening the way for us poor souls downunder to "legally" get our program 
> info. Time will tell where this goes but this can only be good news for us.

Yep, this from Crikey:
ICE TV ices Nine in court. The Nine Network (AKA The Titanic) has had 
another loss. Its attempts to monster Sydney based ICE TV over the 
latter's construction of an electronic program guide, have failed. In 
the Federal Court today Justice Annabelle Bennett ruled against Nine. 
Nine had accused ICE TV of breaching copyright by reproducing its TV 
schedules in electronic form. It claimed a further infringement because 
people can use digital recorders to make copies of TV programs. ICE TV 
disputed the claims. It says it puts together its program guide from 
publicly available information, writes its own program descriptions. ICE 
TV says it makes the software so people can record television programs, 
but says it's not responsible for people using PCs or digital recorders 
to make copies or skip the ads and that's the real issue. Today, in 
Sydney, Justice Annabelle Bennett agreed that Nine owned the copyright 
to its program guide but dismissed Nine's claim on the basis that ICE TV 
"does not reproduce a substantial part of" Nine's guide. She agreed with 
ICE TV that its EPG was compiled independently and ordered Nine to pay 
ICE TV's costs. That's another little financial headache the old Nine 
owners, the Packers, have handed the new owners, CVC. The irony is that 
Nine is now part of the TV industry’s FTA electronic program guide, 
which will allow anyone to access and record programs. The only proviso 
is that the DVR/PVR makers must, as FTA Australia says must comply with 
"base-level requirements designed to protect copyright, protect the 
integrity of the program information and facilitate collection of 
ratings information". That will force manufacturers to alter their 
machines for the Australian market and leave owners of current DVR/PVRs 
which don't meet these requirements, out in the cold.

Article in Sydney Morning Herald:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/home-theatre/nine-loses-program-guide-case/2007/08/09/1186530493565.html

IceTV news:
http://www.icetv.com.au/news/?p=44

-- 
Rev Simon Rumble <simon at rumble.net>
www.rumble.net

The Tourist Engineer
Nerds need vacations too.
http://engineer.openguides.org/

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