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May 17, 2006
XM Sued for Copyright Violations
Read the article from Information Week here.
My guess is that XM's service doesn't fall under the true definition of radio, and as such, they have to follow different rules. Or maybe they have chosen to do so. They are probably under an obligation to pay a license fee for all the music they stream. Traditional radio, on the other hand, has a non-negotiable license, and can play anything they want. If Clear Channel were to sell a similar radio receiver, there would be no such issues.
Sirius is in a similar pickle - they opted to limit the number of units of their recording-capable receivers. Which really sucks from a business perspective, but I guess it's better than losing your license to play music.
Should be interesting to see how this turns out...
Posted by Bill Dettering at May 17, 2006 09:26 PM | Technorati Tags: xm riaa copyright