A couple of things (keep in mind, this is not legal advice and you should not construe it as such).
I am not sure whether a lawsuit would ultimately be successful here, although I am just as pissed off that my television could be rendered obsolete. Nevertheless, I am not certain whether fraud is the best cause of action to assert here. Fraud requires a showing, with particularity (meaning that it has to be more specific than what you might otherwise plead in a lawsuit), of a misstatement or omission of a material fact (meaning it is important), that was made with scienter (meaning an intent to deceive), that was reasonably/justifiably relied upon by you, and which injured you. The requirements may vary slightly from state to state.
You do have to wait for this standard to be adopted, because courts will not hear controversies that are not "ripe." If there was an immediate harm, I suppose you could file a lawsuit and at the same time move for an injunction prohibiting them from implementing this encryption standard.
In any event, if you were to proceed, it always helps to gather background. Specifically, you could find statements made about HDTV in the past. I think this probably won't work -- because it will be very hard to prove that the manufacturers or providers knew, at the time the statements were made, that they were false. That is why a fraud case is going to be difficult.
What I would suggest is that you look at state unfair trade practices statutes (in New York, look at General Business Law Section 349). These statutes are more flexible, and I think you can make a fair argument that rendering non-5C compliant HDTV ready sets unable to view HDTV programming, after selling them for however many years, is an unfair trade practice.
Hope this helps.
I am not sure whether a lawsuit would ultimately be successful here, although I am just as pissed off that my television could be rendered obsolete. Nevertheless, I am not certain whether fraud is the best cause of action to assert here. Fraud requires a showing, with particularity (meaning that it has to be more specific than what you might otherwise plead in a lawsuit), of a misstatement or omission of a material fact (meaning it is important), that was made with scienter (meaning an intent to deceive), that was reasonably/justifiably relied upon by you, and which injured you. The requirements may vary slightly from state to state.
You do have to wait for this standard to be adopted, because courts will not hear controversies that are not "ripe." If there was an immediate harm, I suppose you could file a lawsuit and at the same time move for an injunction prohibiting them from implementing this encryption standard.
In any event, if you were to proceed, it always helps to gather background. Specifically, you could find statements made about HDTV in the past. I think this probably won't work -- because it will be very hard to prove that the manufacturers or providers knew, at the time the statements were made, that they were false. That is why a fraud case is going to be difficult.
What I would suggest is that you look at state unfair trade practices statutes (in New York, look at General Business Law Section 349). These statutes are more flexible, and I think you can make a fair argument that rendering non-5C compliant HDTV ready sets unable to view HDTV programming, after selling them for however many years, is an unfair trade practice.
Hope this helps.
