Betamax Legacy Plays On

Sony Corp.'s Betamax videorecorder long ago vanished from store shelves, but its spirit lives on in Apple Computer Inc.'s iPod.

And TiVo Inc.'s personal videorecorder.

And Archos' portable video player.

And Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Media Center PC, not to mention umpteen other digital devices.

Simply put, virtually any equipment that can record, store or transmit music or movies owes its existence at least in part to Sony and the Betamax.

The Betamax triggered a bitter battle with Hollywood over products that can promote piracy, leading to a landmark Supreme Court ruling that technology and entertainment companies are arguing over to this day.

In the 5-4 ruling, issued 20 years ago today, products that could be used for piracy were deemed legal if they were "capable of substantial noninfringing uses." The opinion gave manufacturers the freedom to produce a range of audiovisual devices without the approval of Hollywood.

Now, lawyers for the entertainment and technology industries are fighting to define what the ruling means in the Internet era. The key question is whether companies can be held liable for products primarily used for piracy -- even if people can use those products for legitimate purposes.

The Betamax decision is at the heart of a case pitting Hollywood studios and major record labels against the companies behind the Grokster and Morpheus file-sharing networks. A federal judge in Los Angeles ruled last year that Grokster and Morpheus were legal under the Betamax doctrine, but the studios have challenged the ruling in the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Software company 321 Studios, whose software can be used to copy DVD movies, is also relying on Betamax to defend against a copyright infringement lawsuit by the studios. That case is awaiting a decision from a federal judge in San Francisco.

At stake is how far technology companies will have to go to protect copyrights before releasing new products or features -- and the degree of control Hollywood and other copyright holders will have over those innovations.

The Betamax decision has been a shield for the manufacturers of many products that have both legitimate and illegitimate uses, including VHS machines, CD burners and DVD recorders. But the more narrowly the Betamax decision is applied by the courts and Congress, the smaller the shield will be, enabling copyright holders to force more products to include anti-piracy features.