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DVD-copying software sparks legal battle with movie studios


RealNetworks on Tuesday released software that lets people copy films on DVDs, sparking a heated legal battle with Hollywood film studios fearful of rampant piracy piracy, robbery committed or attempted on the high seas. It is distinguished from privateering in that the pirate holds no commission from and receives the protection of no nation but usually attacks vessels of all nations. .

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA MPAA
abbr.
Motion Picture Association of America
) rushed to federal court in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850.  and filed a lawsuit lawsuit: see procedure; tort.  demanding that RealNetworks be stopped from distributing its RealDVD software and be made to pay cash damages.

"RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called StealDVD," MPAA general counsel Greg Goeckner said in a release.

"RealNetworks knows its product violates the law and undermines the hard-won trust that has been growing between America's movie makers and the technology community."

RealNetworks countered by saying it will file legal paperwork asking the court to rule that the software enabling (programming) software enabling - (Or "enabling") Modification of the design or implementation of software to allow internationalisation to take place.

In particular, enabling may refer to the modification of software to support double-byte character sets, hence "Unicode
 people to copy movie DVDs is legal because it complies with a DVD Copy Control Association The DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) is an organization primarily responsible for the copy prevention of DVDs. The Content Scramble System (CSS) was devised for this purpose to make copyright infringement difficult.  license agreement.

"RealNetworks took this legal action to protect consumers' ability to exercise their fair-use rights for their purchased DVDs," the company said in a release.

"We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in technology rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more value and flexibility for their purchases."

The software at issue was made available Tuesday online at www.realdvd.com for a price of 29.99 dollars.
Copyright 2008 AFP Global Edition
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.
Copyright (c) Mochila, Inc.

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Author:AFP
Publication:AFP Global Edition
Date:Sep 30, 2008
Words:215
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DVD-copying software sparks legal battle with movie studios

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