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Zediva ordered to permanently shut down operations, pay $1.8 million to MPAA
The last time we checked in with Zediva, the DVD streaming service was reeling from a court-ordered preliminary injunction that effectively brought its operations to a halt. At the time, the California-based company was still pinning its hopes on the promise of a forthcoming appeal, but those hopes were summarily quashed on Friday, when US District Judge John Walter rendered the injunction permanent. Zediva had previously exposed an apparent loophole in US copyright law, by allowing users to stream movies from physical DVDs located in Silicon Valley. This strategy allowed the firm to offer newly released movies well before other on-demand services, but according to Judge Walter, it was also illegal. Zediva will now have to cease all operations and pay $1.8 million in damages to the MPAA. The defendant has yet to comment on the decision, but MPAA Associate General Counsel Dan Robbins seemed understandably delighted: "This result sends a strong message to those who would exploit the studios' works in violation of copyright law, on the Internet or elsewhere, and it is an important victory for the more than 2 million American men and women whose livelihoods depend on a thriving film and television industry."
Zediva puts the brakes on its streaming service, soothes your fears with monkeys
Zediva fought the law and the law shut it down. The unique DVD rental service, sued by the MPAA and Hollywood studios for running afoul of licensing and distribution agreements, has temporarily closed shop. A statement on the outfit's website optimistically refers to the court-ordered injunction as an "intermission," pointing to a hopeful future resumption of operations, and guaranteeing customers a solution for unused credits. The company's promised to fight back against Judge Walter's decision, and is in the process of appealing the ruling that could see it facing a permanent service blackout. We hope for the sake of its "DVD-changing monkeys" that all parties involved can work this out. Make sure to head past the break for Zediva's full explanation.
Zediva's DVD rental service ordered to close shop, Hollywood pops celebratory bubbly
Zediva's loophole-exploiting DVD rental service has just been dealt a lethal blow by Judge John F. Walter. The recent court-ordered preliminary injunction effectively halts the company's ability to rent its library to users across the internet's great streaming divide. Citing irreparable damages to both the nascent video on demand market and Hollywood's bottom line, the federal judge found Zediva's business in violation of studios' exclusive right to public performance of copyrighted works. The bizarro Netflix alternative had been operating without the normal licensing restrictions required by the industry and despite its claims of imminent ruination, will have to close shop. For its part, the unique startup has vowed to appeal the ruling, but if that doesn't work, at least its creators can watch No Strings Attached ad nauseum.
MPAA sues Zediva for streaming DVDs, no one is surprised
We told you to get through that 10 pack of rentals quickly didn't we? As pretty much anyone could have predicted, the Motion Picture Association of America (in case you've forgotten, that's these guys) doesn't think Zediva has the right to rent access to DVDs for streaming across the internet. Specifically, the MPAA calls Zediva for not being the traditional rental service it claims to be, and claims streaming the output of a DVD player across the internet even to one user amounts to public performance of the movie. There's no response yet from Zediva, but in the meantime armchair lawyers can check out the MPAA's statement in PDF form at the source link.
Zediva mashes up Netflix and Redbox for $1.99, four hour-window DVD streaming rentals
Netflix and Redbox have been the new hotness in rentals for the last few years but both have significant drawbacks. With Redbox, it's the box and the morons who are constantly standing in front of it paging through every single movie in the thing and for Netflix's Watch Instantly it's a lack of new releases available for instant viewing. Now there's a new startup, Zediva, that takes on both of those issues by sticking with DVDs, but instead of shipping them to customers or placing them in kiosks, just streams them on demand from one player, to one viewer (unlike Netflix, sometimes movies are "rented out" if there are no copies available at the moment -- renting a flick gives you control of the DVD player, with fast forward and reverse, for four hours) for $1.99 a rental or 10 for $10. Apparently it's been in beta for a year but is now available to all and is currently offering new release DVDs the same day they go on sale by simply purchasing them at retail. There's no HD content yet but it claims Blu-ray titles will be offered soon. The Associated Press talked to a copyright lawyer who points out the case of a hotel that implemented a similar system but was sued into oblivion before calling Zediva "cute, but illegal" so if you decide to check it out, we'd recommend getting through that 10-pack of rentals with haste. Update: We did recommend haste, didn't we? Zediva's registration is now listed as "temporarily full" and prospective users are being asked to join a waiting list. Thanks, Ialo!
