RealNetworks, Inc. v. Streambox, Inc.
United States District Court for the Western District of Washington
No. 2:99CV02070 (2000)
Facts
RealNetworks, Inc. (RealNetworks) (plaintiff) developed and marketed software products designed to allow media owners to stream their content over the Internet. Files hosted by RealNetworks were known as RealMedia. Through a security measure called Copy Switch, the content owners could disable the end users’ ability to download RealMedia files, and users could only stream the content. This prevented the unauthorized copying of the owner’s content. Streambox, Inc. (Streambox) (defendant) provided software products for processing and recording audio and video content. Streambox created the Streambox VCR, which enabled users to access and download copies of RealMedia files. The Streambox VCR circumvented Copy Switch and the RealMedia authorization procedure. Thus, even if content owners had disabled the downloading of their RealMedia files, the Streambox VCR would still allow users to download the files. RealNetworks sued, claiming that Streambox violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Streambox presented a fair-use defense, arguing that its VCR had non-infringing uses.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Pachman, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 705,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,300 briefs, keyed to 983 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
