Until 1984, some people felt a thrill hitting “record” on the VCR. It was a tiny act of rebellion in the face of big companies that did not want consumers recording shows and movies off the TV.Walt Disney Productions and Universal Studios brought a lawsuit against Sony that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said that nowhere is there any indication that it was illegal for millions of TV watchers to copy programs, nor should the sale of the machines that do the copying be prohibited.The ruling turned TV buffs and gadget gurus from potential outlaws into perfectly legal home movie collectors.WATCH the video to see how worried consumers and merchants were about the ruling.If you liked this story, here are a few more blasts from the past.From Rotary to Radical: The ‘80s wave of wild and wacky phone ownershipAmericans hung up on leasing and went all in on buying their home phones. Some of them were pretty crazy.RETRO TECH: Do you remember the first home computers from the ‘70s?The first home computers to hit the market were not cheap. They cost nearly $8,000 in today’s money! They came with a nifty briefcase, though. Check out the video!RETRO TECH: This phone let you ‘FaceTime’ in the ‘90sYou would be forgiven for thinking that video phone calls were a 21st-century invention. However, long before smartphones, the VideoPhone 2500 connected people through video calls in the ‘90s.
Until 1984, some people felt a thrill hitting “record” on the VCR. It was a tiny act of rebellion in the face of big companies that did not want consumers recording shows and movies off the TV.
Walt Disney Productions and Universal Studios brought a lawsuit against Sony that made it all the way to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court said that nowhere is there any indication that it was illegal for millions of TV watchers to copy programs, nor should the sale of the machines that do the copying be prohibited.
The ruling turned TV buffs and gadget gurus from potential outlaws into perfectly legal home movie collectors.
WATCH the video to see how worried consumers and merchants were about the ruling.
If you liked this story, here are a few more blasts from the past.
From Rotary to Radical: The ‘80s wave of wild and wacky phone ownership
Americans hung up on leasing and went all in on buying their home phones. Some of them were pretty crazy.
RETRO TECH: Do you remember the first home computers from the ‘70s?
The first home computers to hit the market were not cheap. They cost nearly $8,000 in today’s money! They came with a nifty briefcase, though. Check out the video!
RETRO TECH: This phone let you ‘FaceTime’ in the ‘90s
You would be forgiven for thinking that video phone calls were a 21st-century invention. However, long before smartphones, the VideoPhone 2500 connected people through video calls in the ‘90s.