Didn’t the U.S. Supreme Court already decide this issue in the famous “Betamax” case when Hollywood tried to ban VCRs?
That’s what we thought too. In 1979, Universal City Studios sued Sony Corp. for distributing VCRs under the same legal theory, that the devices are “tools of piracy” because they make unauthorized copies of copyrighted movies and TV programs. Rejecting that argument, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that because VCRs are capable of substantial non-infringing uses, such as “time-shifting”, they were lawful devices under copyright. As it turns out, it’s a good thing for the studios that the court decided against them in 1984 since now VCR tape rental and sales account for most of their profits.
