RealNetworks Claims Victory In Streambox Case

RealNetworks has started beating the
publicity drum over a legal copyright case it said it has won against Streambox for the firm's Streambox VCR and Ferret technologies.

RealNetworks, arguably the dominant player in the Internet audio-
visual streaming technology, said it has a preliminary injunction
against Streambox for its allegedly infringing technology.

However, IT legal cases of this type are notoriously complex and
lengthy, meaning that it could be some time before the case reaches a
conclusion. In the meantime, Streambox has an injunction against it
to prevent the promotion or sale of its two technologies.

Legal precedent says that if the full case subsequently goes against
RealNetworks, then Streambox can file for lost earnings against the
firm, Newsbytes notes.

Specifically, RealNetworks said that Streambox is may not market or
distribute the Streambox VCR, which allegedly "records live streams
against the wishes of copyright holders," and the Streambox Ferret,
which "interferes with the appearance and functionality of the
RealPlayer."

RealNetworks Vice President Alex Alben in a statement said that he is
pleased the court has "upheld the basic principle that it is illegal
to circumvent copy protection mechanisms in order to record streams
against the wishes of copyright holders."

RealNetworks, he said, brought the lawsuit to protect the copyright
of content holders who use RealNetworks' software and systems to
provide their content in a format that is protected from
duplication.

Newsbytes notes that RealNetworks, which has just started shipping
its latest player, RealPlayer 7, to its millions of users around
the world, is fighting an ongoing battle against streaming
interception.

This is because, although it is not normally possible to download and
save a RealVideo presentation without the originator's permission,
there are several freeware utilities in circulation that do just
this.

This causes problems for RealNetworks, since much of its technology
is paid for by stream material providers who use the RealVideo
software to encode and transmit their presentations over the
Internet.

RealNetworks' may be found at http://www.realnetworks.com.

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.