Film Studios Sue Samsung Over DVD players

Lam1969 writes "The Korea Times reports that five U.S. film studios have taken Samsung to court for selling DVD players which allow users to bypass DRM features. The film companies, including Walt Disney and Time Warner, are demanding Samsung recall the players. According to a Samsung spokesman quoted in the article, the movie studios probably 'take issue' with Samsung's HD841 model, which Samsung sold in the United States for five months in 2004."

VCR

[mtenhagen]

I heard you can connect a vcr to the output and then record everything you play, I can imagine the studios are upset.

Ebay

[appleLaserWriter]

In other news, prices for Samsung's HD841 DVD player skyrocket on EBay.

Obligatory reference

[Anonymous Coward]

MPAA: "I find your lack of DRM Disturbing..."

Raise your hand...

[Deathbane27]

The film companies, including Walt Disney and Time Warner, are demanding Samsung recall the players.

Raise your hand if you're going to return your player if/when it's recalled. =P

Wonderful

[LarsWestergren]

I'm really looking forward to the day when I can get sued for just owning a DVD player that allows me to bypass commercials, inane FBI warnings, and ads for studios and technologies like THX.

the forgot DRM feature

[Gravis Zero]

they forgot to mention that samsung also broke a key DRM feature. you know, the one that erases your memory of the movie so you dont describe what happens, to other people.

Re:I hate the non-skippable DVDs

[Quiet_Desperation]

I was watching Voyager DVDs and every episode starts with a non-skippable 10s clip of Voyager powering up and moving across the sreen. Even though it was only for 10s, after 3-4 episodes I was really really hating that clip.

I had a similar reaction, except that after 3-4 episodes I was really really hating Voyager. :-)

Re:Explaining DRM to a 2 year old

[flewp]

Shouldn't be too hard, since I bet most of the people responsible for such things have the mental capacity of a 2 year old...

Samsung? Sony? Toshiba?

[layer3switch]

Samsang DVD player doesn't have DRM.
Tochiba flat screen TV let me watch whatever I want.
Suny MP3 player let me listen to whatever MP3 files.

I have no clue what Samsung, Toshiba, Sony make. Are they big companies like Samsang, Tochiba and Suny?

Re:VCR

[m0nstr42]

...a 4016/4066 will sort of just about do, but look at the Maxim web site for some higher-bandwidth, lower-on-resistance ones...

Maxim has girls AND components? It truely is geek heaven.

Re:Just like the RIAA

[Psykechan]

Why would you need to make backups when replacements are readily available at affordable prices? [arstechnica.com]

Re:it's all samsung's fault!

[voice_of_all_reason]

Honestly, I can't wait for Star Trek replicators to get invented. How crazy would the world get if I could download mercedes.torrent, big_mac_combo.zip, and refreshing columbianblow.rar?

Re:it's all samsung's fault!

[Anonymous Coward]

Anyone who'd download a fucking McDonald's deserves to be ignored.

Re:it's all samsung's fault!

[Rufus88]

more or less pulled out of the air with no means to know how that figure was determined

Damages are calculated by taking the number of DVD titles in existence, times the average price of a DVD, times the number of people on earth who might conceivably hear about the existence of the Samsung players and think, "Nah, I won't buy all those DVDs; I'll just find somebody with a Samsung and copy them all".

Re:Come after me

[mallardtheduck]

Of course, we all know that the ads have the longest run-time...