Story
here
that copying DVDs for personal
backup may be legal under ‘fair use’, if it uses a method which dodges the DMCA.
A court in California will this month rule on the legality of an ingenious new software package that makes perfect copies of movies on DVDs even if they are protected with the latest anti-copying technology.
The software has been developed by 321 Studios of St Louis, Missouri. The company says its DVDXcopy program does not violate the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it illegal to defeat copy-protection schemes.
According to 321, the software is legitimate because it does not do anything that the DVD’s copy protection is designed to prevent.
DVDXcopy works by intercepting the digital video code just after it has been legitimately unscrambled by the DVD player, but just before the unscrambled code is converted into a protected analogue TV signal. It then saves the unscrambled video on the PC’s hard drive before copying it onto a blank DVD.
The copied discs play perfectly. It is even possible to copy the copy back to a hard drive, and then onto another blank DVD.
Part of 321’s case is that its product reinstates the right of consumers to back up their discs. The argument dates back to the taping of records in the 1970s, but few in the entertainment industry accept its validity.
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