Kaleidescape

Kaleidescape, Inc.
Private
Founded Mountain View, California
(February, 2001)
Headquarters Sunnyvale, California
and Waterloo, Ontario
Key people

Cheena Srinivasan, CEO

[1]
Website kaleidescape.com

Kaleidescape, Inc. was a Sunnyvale, California-based private company, founded in 2001, which designed multi-room home entertainment server systems that store and stream video and audio content (such as movies, television shows, and music) to "player" appliances connected to televisions.[2] The company began marketing its products in 2003.[3] Research and development was carried out partly by Kaleidescape Canada based in Waterloo, Ontario.

History

Kaleidescape was founded in 2001 by Michael Malcolm, Dan Collens, and Cheena Srinivasan. Malcolm had previously founded Network Appliance and CacheFlow.[3] Malcolm self-funded the startup and the company spent over two years developing its technology in "stealth mode." Kaleidescape was reported to be "solidly" profitable and was funded without venture capital money, although as a private company it did not publicly disclose its finances.[4]

The company stopped operations and terminated all of its employees in August 2016. The closure was due to running out of money. CEO Cheena Srinivasan said they are looking for a buyer.[5] The company reopened the following month, having received additional financing.[6]

Cinema One

In July 2013, Kaleidescape launched the new Cinema One as the company’s new entry-level high-definition entertainment server.[7] Cinema One is a movie server that allows users to watch films instantly and jump to special scenes, bypassing menus. Through Kaleidescape’s online movie store, users are able to add high-definition and standard definition movies to their collections instantly.[8] Cinema One allows the storage and playback of up to 100 Blu-ray quality, 600 DVD quality or 6,000 CD quality titles.[9]

Kaleidescape Store

The Kaleidescape Store launched in May 2013 in the US and June 2013 in the UK, becoming the first online store to allow users to download Blu-ray quality movies via an internet-based delivery platform .[10][11] The initial title offerings included a multi-year license agreement with Warner Bros.[12] The Kaleidescape Store expanded its availability to Canada in September 2013.[13] In October 2013, Kaleidescape announced a multi-year studio agreement with Lionsgate, resulting in the addition of approximately 2,000 titles to the Kaleidescape Store.[14]

Studio Support

Legal issues

In 2004, the DVD Copy Control Association, the licensor of CSS (content scramble system), the technology for the copy control of DVDs, sued Kaleidescape for breach of contract. The DVD CCA alleged that its CSS License did not permit Kaleidescape's movie servers to serve DVDs from copies on hard disk. They sued to stop the company from selling these movie servers. Kaleidescape Systems allow users to rip, store, and stream video from DVDs.[15] The case, although only for breach of contract and not a copyright case, was considered by some to be an important recent test of fair use precedent,[16] given advancements in technology and the digital media rights field.[17] In 2007, Kaleidescape won the case. In fact, the DVD CCA had alleged that Kaleidescape had breached terms in a document called the General Specifications. The court ruled that the General Specifications are not even part of the contract.[18]

On August 13, 2009, a California appellate court reversed the lower court's decision that the General Specifications is not part of the CSS License, and sent the case back to the lower court for further proceedings (see DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Kaleidescape, Inc.). This appellate court ruling did not address the issue of whether Kaleidescape violated the contract (contrary to some news reports), instead deferring that determination to the lower court.[19][20] In March 2012, the Superior Court ruled that Kaleidescape had violated the terms of the contract, and issued an injunction prohibiting it from selling or supporting the products in question.[21]

The California 6th District Court of Appeal granted Kaleidescape a temporary stay of the injunction on March 29, 2012. This temporary stay stops the injunction from coming into effect, while the Court of Appeal decides whether or not to stay the injunction during the entire appeal process.

References

  1. ↑ Takahashi, Dean (2008-06-18). "Kaleidescape launches DVD upscalers to compete with Blu-ray". The Industry Standard. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  2. ↑ Rothman, Wilson (2006-09-27). "A Movie Library In Your Living Room". New York TImes. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  3. 1 2 Healey, Jon (2005-04-18). "Lawsuit may cause DVD jukebox to tilt". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  4. ↑ Hebert, Robert (2008-03-13). "A Movie Library In Your Living Room" (PDF). StoneWood Group. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Kaleidescape Receives New Investments, Resumes Operations, hometheaterreview.com, 12 September 2016
  7. ↑ Clauser, Grant (2013-07-13). "Kaleidescape Offers $4K Cinema One Movie Server". Electronic House. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  8. ↑ Snider, Mike (2013-07-13). "New Movie Server Lets You Watch Films Instantaneously". USA Today. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  9. ↑ Dension, Caleb (2013-07-13). "Kaleiedescape Brings Its Exotic Media Servers to Wider Audience with $4,000 Cinema One". Digital Trends. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
  10. ↑ Lawler, Richard (2013-05-02). "Kaleidescape's online video store officially opens, promises Blu-ray quality downloads.". Engadget. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  11. ↑ Gruenwedel, Erik (2013-06-06). "Kaleidescape Movie Store Launches in the U.K.". Home Media Magazine. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  12. ↑ Roettgers, Janko (2013-05-01). "Watch your data caps: Kaleidescape starts offering Blu-ray quality movie downloads.". Gigaom. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  13. ↑ "Kaleidescape for Canada". Advanced Television. 2013-09-06. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  14. ↑ Dave, Banks (2013-03-04). "Upgrade Your Home Theater with the Kaleidescape Cinema One.". Geek Dad. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  15. ↑ Wong, May (2004-12-08). "Film industry group sues DVD jukebox maker". USA Today. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  16. ↑ Hachman, Mark (2007-03-25). "Can You Legally Rip a DVD? Trial to Test 'Fair Use'". The Industry Standard. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  17. ↑ Merritt, Rick (2007-03-16). "Trial Could Test Digital Media Rights". InformationWeek. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  18. ↑ Merritt, Rick (2007-03-29). "Judge Rules Against DVD Consortium". InformationWeek. Retrieved 2008-06-24.
  19. ↑ Elia, Franklin D. (2009-10-17). "DVD Copy Control Association v. Kaleidescape, Inc., Case H031631, Decision" (PDF). Court of Appeal of the State of California, Sixth Appellate District. Retrieved 2009-10-17.
  20. ↑ Kraemer, Brian (2009-08-13). "Court Rules Against Kaleidescape DVD Ripping Technology". The Channel Wire. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  21. ↑ Monahan, William J. (2012-03-08), DVD Copy Control Association v. Kaleidescape, Inc., Case No. 1-04-CV-031829, Permanent Injuction Order (PDF), Superior Court of the State of California, Santa Clara County, retrieved 2012-03-13

External links

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