Studios win injunction against controversial DVD copying software

Hollywood has prevailed in its battle to keep consumers from copying DVDs to their computers. Legally, anyway.

United States District Court Judge Marilyn Patel today issued a preliminary injunction blocking the sale of RealDVD, a controversial software application that allows consumers to copy DVDs to a computer's hard drive. The standard copy protection on DVDs blocks consumers from taking the movie file off of the disc.

The six major movie studios filed suit last September in U.S. District Court in San Francisco when the RealDVD software went on the market, alleging that it illegally violated their right to restrict the use of their movies in digital form. Four days later, they won a temporary restraining order blocking the sale of the software.

RealNetworks, the maker of RealDVD, countered that it only allowed consumers to exercise their so-called fair use rights to make back-up copies. RealDVD, which cost $30, let consumers make one copy of a DVD and limited the number of computers on which they could watch that copy to five.

During court proceedings in April, RealNetworks chief executive Rob Glaser showed off an in-development set top box called "Facet" that used the software behind RealDVD to let users save copies of DVDs and play them on a television. Its sale is blocked by the judge's ruling as well.

Movie studios have fought aggressively to maintain the copy control on DVDs, as one of the primary sources for music piracy has been songs burned onto computer hard drives from CDs, which don't come with any such restrictions.

There are numerous illegal software applications available on the Internet that make it relatively easy to break the copy protection on DVDs. High-definition Blu-ray discs come with more advanced copy protection that is tougher to crack.

Recently, some DVDs have shipped with a "digital copy" that allows owners to transfer a movie to a computer or portable device. However, there's currently no legal way to copy other DVDs.

"This is a victory for the creators and products of motion pictures and television shows and for the rule of law in our digital economy," said Dan Glickman, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, which coordinated the studios' case. "Throughout the development of RealDVD, RealNetworks demonstrated that it was willing to break the law at the expense of those who create entertainment content."

A representative for RealNetworks didn't respond to a request for comment. The company may appeal the ruling.

Update (7:25 PM): A RealNetworks representative e-mailed the following statement:

We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD.   We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it.  After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.

-- Ben Fritz

Comments

[John Bishop]

This is really a simple case - look at http://microsoft.eatspoop.com/ and there will be no more questions.

[Jameson]

But fair use law says that the purchaser of a copyrighted work has the right to make one copy for backup to protect his investment in case the original is damaged, no? DVDs can certainly be damaged to the point of uselessness - ask anyone with a Netflix account. I'm curious how the studios are getting around that. Perhaps it's a matter of special privileges being granted in the DMCA they rammed through Congress?

[yorch]

Just read Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc. (home video taping) or MGM v. Grokster (peer-to-peer file sharing). In both cases the U.S. Supreme Court has sided with the creators of technology citing that they had substantial noninfringing uses.

[brian]

This is utterly meaningless. There are so many DVD copying applications on the web, there is no way to chase them all down with lawsuits. Some applications have been written by people in other countries and are fully avail for free on the internet.

The goal of the studios should be to provide consumers with a digital copy of the media they are purchasing at a price point that makes ripping and copying a waste of time. I work for a distribution company, we are struggling with this issue as well, but we realize the answer is not suing software companies. Digital copying is going to happen. How best to monetize it so it works to our advantage is the goal.