Comments on: Apple, others draw legal threat over media players

California company accuses Apple, Microsoft, Real and Adobe of violating copyright law by "actively avoiding" its products.

[h8fldave]

mactherip...mrt!

how crazy just scramble the letters and you will see

[Ilgaz]

This could be a good thing

Perhaps some suits will FINALLY understand that cease and desist
crap is going nowhere.

[MSSlayer]

A new low in the annals of civil law

When i first read this, I had to check the date on the article. For a second I thought there might be 2 April 1sts this years.

This has got to be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. It makes SCO almost seem sane.

I can't believe anyone would stoop so low.

[mathue_tax]

Bizarre!

There's GOT to be something the press release doesn't say. It
makes no sense to sue, especially in the US over another
companies desire NOT to use your product. None of the named
companies have any obligation, legal or otherwise to use their
product.

[MSSlayer]

This is the extreme but inevitable result of...

the bizarre idea that corporations have a RIGHT to profit.

These days just having a business plan is enough for some to think that automatically entitles them to profit.

I almost wish they would sue. A judge would likely dismiss it in the first hearing, but if they get a retarded judge the combined financial might of these 4 companies could bankrupt this stupid greedy company.

There is no way they would settle and set a precedence for this sort of extortion.

I would be shocked if this went beyond a letter or two and a few words.

[OS11]

How to contact Media Rights Tech

this is one of the most laughable "threats" i've seen in a long time. is this a comedy sketch?

anyway, be sure to send them a "what the fck" email, or call them and LAUGH, and hang up. here is all their contact info:

http://www.mediarightstech.com/contact/

[goletaK]

I'm going to sue all the companies for

actively not using the encryption algorithm I patented.
Anyone wants to chip in my legal expenses? If you contribute to 1%
of the expenses, you'll get 0.5% of the money awarded to me.

[ambigous]

Solution?

A reference made to this technology in Hank Risan's bio at Huffingtonpost.com:

"...Supported by advanced mathematical skills and extensive business experience, he then designed the technical solutions that solve a very large industry problem."

Marketplace "solutions" are confidentialy PROVEN by the their effectivness at addressing and solving a client's problem. A development that's so low-profile and underwhelming it's developer has to resort to serving potential clients with underhanded legal threats to merely get their attention, is hardly a "solution."

[sanenazok]

I think they want to be called using Skype

Their toll free number is: 18773068742
Hank Risan's extension is 244. He's quoted in the story as saying stupid stuff.

Dial it using Skype, which is free to you, and leave them a message (or two).

[maniac42]

Have you ever heard of analog?

Yeah, that OLD technology. If I can hear it, I can record it. If it sends an analog waveform to a pair of speakers, I can monitor the lines with the sound card of a computer or a CD recorder and capture anything I can hear. If the sound card is of sufficient quality, the recording will be practically indistinguishable from the original. How is MRT, Inc., or anybody for that matter, proposing to stop that with a DRM scheme?

[joebuff75]

recording BlueBeat.com streams digitally

You can record BlueBeat.com's streams without copy protection
by using this setup:

- any Mac
- Parallels Desktop or Microsoft Virtual PC
- Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack

Once you have BlueBeat.com's streams running on your windows
operating system, you can use MacOS X with Audio Hijack to
capture the sound and save it as .AIF file.

Sounds great!

[mas2265]

yeah...

I think that's why certain media/tech companies have proposed measures like:
1) requiring all sound software/hardware, from the media player, through the operating system, down to the speakers, to be locked down using some sort of encryption technology (as in, regular sound cards and speakers wouldn't work anymore). (I think I remember that Vista was previously planned to be like this, like during fall 2005.)
2) passing laws prohibiting the further manufacturing of analog-to-digital converters that don't incorporate DRM.

I am guessing that such attempted-to-be-general measures like these would be laughable as far as how effective they'd be...but in principle, I find the general idea to be quite scary and hope that our society won't ever reach a point like that.

[jesmac418]

All this DRM gives personal media a bad name

I think consumer's are being forced away from music and video.
Even my daughter who wanted to give a old iPod shuffle to a friend
was dissapointed that should could not share any of her music with
her because of DRM. You know I can remember when a good three
head cassette deck could make almost perfect copies! I did not any
complaints about that!

[Russell McOrmond]

This concept consistant with intent of anti-circumvention legislation

I wrote a BLOG article on this topic explaining why I consider this Cease and Desist demand to be consistent with the intent of the 1996 WIPO treaties and the USA's DMCA.

http://www.digital-copyright.ca/node/3935

[uqlue]

Claim vs Reality

They make a bold claim that their technology plugs a DRM loophole but in real life people can always find a way around technological glass walls. It just takes a very determined and creative user to find the brick.

No DRM technology will be 100% as there is no such thing as a 100% secure computer.

[wysiwyg22]

Bad Website, Bad Product, Bad Attention

As a member of the media that actively uses several DRM solutions for our productions, I can say tactics like this will make me NEVER use them.

Some advice to MRT:

Instead of wasting money on stupid lawsuits that are SO creative to get into the blogosphere, try paying a high school kid to make your website look a little more professional. Right now, it's very 1998 over there. No wonder your products aren't being taken seriously.

This sort of kneejerk marketing should get you a knee to the face, shortly before closing your doors forever.

Contrary to Marketing Myth, there is such a thing as Bad Attention, especially when you're trying to force companies to use your product in a free market.

Good luck with that.

Does this upset anyone else? It's this kind of crap that really shows the slime on the fringes of our industry.

[wysiwyg22]

Media Rights Tech - Supporting their Failure

As a member of the media that actively uses several DRM solutions for our productions, I can say tactics like this will make me NEVER use them.

Some advice to MRT:

Instead of wasting money on stupid lawsuits that are SO creative to get into the blogosphere, try paying a high school kid to make your website look a little more professional. Right now, it's very 1998 over there. No wonder your products aren't being taken seriously.

This sort of kneejerk marketing should get you a knee to the face, shortly before closing your doors forever.

Contrary to Marketing Myth, there is such a thing as Bad Attention, especially when you're trying to force companies to use your product in a free market.

Good luck with that.

Does this upset anyone else? It's this kind of crap that really shows the slime on the fringes of our industry.

[gggg sssss]

clueless

This ***** is not using my product to prevent copyright violation of his product. Where is the lien to sue him.

[gggg sssss]

clueless

This ***** is not using my product to prevent copyright violation of his product. Where is the lien to sue him.

[ccpopham]

hmmm

I think I read that law a couple of times and at no point did I see his companies name mentioned that all other companies had to use or should use. So does that mean that Adobe, Apple, Microsoft, etc can sue that company for being STUPID??? I think so. Wait I got it, I want to sue a car compny because they are not using the red keychain that I made!!! How dumb can some people be? That was a good joke, Haha!!!