Sonicblue Moves to Overturn Court Order

Sonicblue Inc. moved to overturn a court order for it to track users of its Replay TV digital recording devices and share detailed viewing data with major studios and television networks, saying the order would violate privacy rights. Santa Clara-based Sonicblue called the May 2 order from Central District Court Magistrate Charles Eick “breathtaking and unprecedented” and said the directive to track what television viewers watch “violates consumers’ privacy rights, including those guaranteed by the 1st and 4th amendments.”

The plaintiffs in the case, including film studios Paramount, Universal, Walt Disney Co. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc., as well as TV networks CBS, ABC and NBC, have argued that they need the data, including details on what commercials viewers skip and what files they transfer across the Internet, to build their copyright infringement case against Sonicblue. The lawsuit is part of a broader campaign by the studios, and TV networks to a lesser extent, to combat what they say is video piracy that costs them billions of dollars each year in lost sales in advertising and subscription-based programming.