Are aggressive copyright owners stifling innovation in media technology?
Ed Felten argues that TiVo has eschewed innovation in an effort to placate media companies. Why Hasn't TiVo Improved? "TiVo made a decision, early on, to cozy up to the TV networks, to stay within their comfort zone. But the networks' comfort zone is awfully confining. ReplayTV took a different path, seizing the technological lead with new features that angered the networks; and the networks brought a lawsuit that ReplayTV couldn't afford to defend. At the time, TiVo execs probably chuckled and congratulated themselves for their caution."
In response, PVRblog's Matt Haughey suggests that TiVo
has been chilled from developing innovative new technologies, because anything that helps customers enjoy TV, movies, or music is a target for lawsuits.: "The content company dinosaurs are so wed to their antiquated business models that they'll send off their legal department to attack at the slightest provocation (this includes imagined potential profit losses)."
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