An attorney, Dunlavey is best known for arguing “Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios” all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.
At issue in the so-called “Betamax Case” was whether consumers had the right to use the then-new video cassette recorders to tape television shows for their own use. The case started in 1979 with Hollywood studios complaining that their copyrights were being violated, and that Sony and other VCR manufacturers were responsible as “contributory infringers.” After going back and forth several times, the case was heard by the Supreme Court in 1984.
“The studios have been paid once. There’s no reason they should be paid twice,” Dunlavey argued. Thanks to his win, Americans are free to tape shows to watch later — “time-shifting,” as it became known, and now use even more convenient hard-disk-based Personal Video Recorders. He died June 28 in southern California after a fall at age 77.