New iCrave to operate within law, insists Entervision founder Herbert Becker

Montreal inventor Herbert Becker insists that he is operating within the law both by proposing to retransmit network broadcasts and in using the iCraveTV name and logo on his new web site, iCraveTV.biz (CNM Update, Mar. 14/02). Becker, the founder of Entervision Inc., released a media advisory on March 25 to defend the site’s as-yet-undivulged plans to carry on the iCrave name with Internet broadcasts of pay-per-view events, free television channels, and subscription services. In the advisory, Becker writes: "Why is it a problem to invite people to watch the broadcasts I am seeing over the Internet?…At iCraveTV, we are not making any changes to the broadcasts, nor are we earning a (sic) income or charging a fee for the networks, channels or shows we are sharing across the net (sic)…We also use the EnterVision Broadcasting system, which means the copyright of the programs are protected since the end user, viewers of the broadcasts, cannot save or capture the broadcast the way they can with older streaming methods such as REAL Player or Microsoft MediaPlayer. Once an EnterVision broadcast is complete, it is gone, the copyright is protected. With this in mind, we feel secure that sharing broadcasts over the net (sic) is not an infringement on anyone’s rights." Contacted by Canadian NEW MEDIA, Becker insists the advisory was not a response to any particular rights-holder’s concerns or to any advance by government officials responsible for copyright law. Rather, he says, "we’ve been getting a lot of calls. That’s all it is." Though Becker hasn’t yet stated whether he intends to broadcast network programming – the same plan that buried the original iCraveTV in court in 2000 (CNM, Mar. 20/00), the letter nonetheless seems designed to pre-empt potential concerns over Internet retransmission. Becker says he has not followed the current debate on section 31 of the Copyright Act or the progress of C-48 through Parliament (see story in this issue). In an earlier interview, Becker also defended his use of the iCraveTV name and logo, saying the original iCrave is "bankrupt", and that the new site will be "what iCrave should have been." He’s unconcerned, he says, by the possibility of legal action by iCrave since "those guys couldn’t defend themselves from the original lawsuit." Since then, William Craig, president and founder of iCraveTV.com Inc., has told Toronto Star reporter Tyler Hamilton that he won’t stand in the way of Becker’s initiative. However, one of iCrave’s original founders and vice-presidents cautions Becker that the company continues to wait for the legal climate to improve before re-launching and that appropriating the iCrave name could prove "foolish". "(iCraveTV.biz is) putting their investment at risk for the simple reason that at one point they could have that name yanked and, therefore, any viewership that they generate or subscribership that they generate could suddenly not have that URL," Ian McCallum told CNM when told of the new iCrave initiative. "Furthermore, there could be penalties associated with it. So, I think that’s foolish on their part." Asked if he had any intention of pursuing legal action, McCallum says, "not yet, but that has been a policy of ours from the beginning – that we would vigourously defend any name poaching. There have been a large number of registrations of various forms of iCrave. I think the last time I checked it was something like 500. The ones that we want, basically, we can go and get." Details about the new iCrave’s business plan are still sketchy, and Becker has promised a media preview of his technology within a few days. In his most recent conversation with CNM, however, Becker says that the EnterVision product he’ll be demonstrating is little changed from the product he first previewed a year ago. In April 2001, Becker explained that he spoke with both iCraveTV and JumpTV.com Canada Inc. about the technology in the spring of 2000 (CNM, Apr. 19/01) .

New iCrave to operate within law, insists Entervision founder Herbert Becker

News | 03/27/2002 5:00 am EST

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