DVD News: April 4, 2006
Netflix has gone to court to try to get Blockbuster to pay damages and/or to get Blockbuster’s online DVD rental service shut down. The issue seems to be whether or not Blockbuster incurred legal liability when it started up an online DVD rental service with business methodologies patterned after those Netflix had pioneered earlier. Those methodologies apparently include permitting a subscriber to keep a contracted-for number of DVDs (typically three) indefinitely without paying a late fee and allowing each customer to maintain and manipulate their own personal prioritized waiting list of DVDs they want to receive. The basis for the lawsuit is the claim that Blockbuster has infringed upon patents that Netflix has been granted for its business methodologies. But U.S. patent law is tricky, and it will be interesting to see how the legal system deals with this case.
Update - June 14, 2006: Blockbuster Countersues Netflix
