Judge Bars Sale of RealDVD

Affirms MPAA assertion that making circumventing DVD encryption, even if only to make a backup copy, is a violation of the DMCA.

The MPAA chalked up another win recently that affirms its position that making even “one copy” of a DVD is illegal.

For this past Tuesday US District Court Judge Marilyn Patel ruled that RealNetworks RealDVD software makes a permanent copy of copyrighted DVDs and therefore is a violation of the DMCA, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and a breach its CSS License Agreement with the DVD CCA, the group which controls DVD encryption for the MPAA.

The court subsequently granted the MPAA an injunction preventing RealNetworks from “engaging in, or facilitating others in, manufacturing, importing, offering to the public, providing or otherwise trafficking in the product known as RealDVD.”

RealDVD circumvents the DVD encryption that controls access to or copying of the Studios’ copyrighted content on DVDs and therefore violates the “copy-control” provision of the DMCA which expressly prohibits this practice.

Section 1201(b) of the DMCA reads in relevant part:

No person shall manufacture, import, offer to the public, provide, or otherwise traffic in any technology, product, service, device, component, or part thereof, that–

(A) is primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright

owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof;

(B) has only limited commercially significant purpose or use other than to circumvent protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof; or

(c) is marketed by that person or another acting in concert with that person with that person’s knowledge for use in circumventing protection afforded by a technological measure that effectively protects a right of a copyright owner under this title in a work or a portion thereof.

In other words, you can make a backup copy of a DVD you can’t legally offer a product that allows individuals to circumvent the CSS encryption in doing so.

“So while it may well be fair use for an individual consumer to store a backup copy of a personally-owned DVD on that individual’s computer, a federal law has nonetheless made it illegal to manufacture or traffic in a device or tool that permits a consumer to make such copies,” reads the ruling.

Talk about a catch-22.

“The court has found the only copying the copyright owners have ‘authorized’ is

temporary copying, i.e., buffering or caching, because it is a necessary part of the playback process in all DVD players,” Judge Patel continues.

The MPAA, which has dubbed the software “StealDVD” even though RealNetworks simply offered it as a tool to “protect your discs from scratches and damage,” was quick to voice its happiness with the ruling.

“We are very pleased with the court’s decision,” says MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman in a statement. “This is a victory for the creators and producers of motion pictures and television shows and for the rule of law in our digital economy.”

Not wanting to be seen as stifling consumer choice he also added the same sort of RIAA drivel that the MPAA is in fact working hard to expand it.

“The creative community has been teaming for years with an array of technology partners to expand consumer choices for enjoying movies, TV shows and other content in diverse ways,” Glickman continues. “This includes free streaming, on demand rentals, purchased downloads, as well as DVD bonus digital copies of entire TV shows, series and feature films. We are committed to advancing the consumer experience through technology while sustaining the creative community that makes the movies and TV shows we love.”

So you have all of these “wonderful” options for viewing content, but none for allowing you to backup the content on a DVD you paid $20 bucks. This again affirms its position that the price of a DVD is predicated on the “notion of certain use rights associated with certain price points” and that they would have to raise prices substantially if people were allowed to have a purchased copy forever.

RealNetworks was obviously dismayed by the injunction and is still trying to figure out how to proceed.

“We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD,” it says in a statement. “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.”

The bottom line is that the MPAA doesn’t want you to have the same “fair use rights” to make a backup copy of your DVDs in the same way that we’ ve been able to with CDs.

Too bad there’s a dozen or more free software applications out there that allow you to do precisely what the MPAA has sued RealNetworks to forbid.

Stay tuned.

jared@zeropaid.com

**What are some of your favorite DVD ripping programs?

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