Update: Hollywood Studios Battle Back In RealDVD Suit
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has asked a federal court in Los Angeles for a temporary restraining order to halt the sales of RealDVD, the software announced earlier this month that lets consumers rip their DVD movies onto their computers for storage and playback. The film industry contends that RealDVD software violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by illegally bypassing copyright protection to protect DVDs against illegal duplication, theft and copyright infringement.
"RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called StealDVD," said Greg Goeckner, executive vice president and general counsel for the Motion Picture Association of America in an MPAA statement. "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. The major motion picture studios have been making major investments in technologies that allow people to access entertainment in a variety of new and legal ways. This includes online video-on-demand, download-to-own, as well as legitimate digital copies for storage and use on computers and portable devices that are increasingly being made available on or with DVDs. Our industry will continue on this path because it gives consumers greater choices than ever. However, we will vigorously defend our right to stop companies from bringing products to market that mislead consumers and clearly violate the law."
Hollywood's suit comes just hours after RealNetworks filed a suit of its own against the major movie studios in hopes of preventing such an injunction.
RealNetworks' suit, the company said was filed to "protect consumers' fair-use rights with RealDVD." The suit comes after several studios reportedly threatened legal action against RealNetworks.
Released earlier this month, RealDVD is a PC application that lets consumers save their DVDs to their hard drive to watch later without lugging around the physical discs. Users can rip their DVD collection to their computers without removing or altering the CSS encryption, making it legal to copy DVDs without infringing on copy protection and copyright laws.
Essentially, RealDVD works like this: A user launches the software, inserts a DVD into a PC's DVD drive and hits "save." The application does the rest.
Anticipating Hollywood outrage, RealNetworks Tuesday said it plans to file an action for a declaratory judgment in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California against DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA), Disney Enterprises, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Twentieth Century Fox Film, NBC Universal, Warner Bros. Entertainment and Viacom. The lawsuit asks the court to rule that RealDVD software fully complies with the DVD Copy Control Association's license agreement.
"RealDVD allows consumers to securely store, manage and play their DVDs on their computers," RealNetworks said in a statement. "It does not enable users to distribute copies of their DVDs. RealDVD not only maintains the DVD's native CSS encryption intact, it also adds another layer of digital rights management encryption that effectively locks the DVD copy to the owner's computer to ensure that the content cannot be improperly copied or shared. RealDVD provides consumers with a great solution for the playback and management of their DVD collections while adding security that is more robust than CSS."
The MPAA however, contends in its lawsuit that RealDVD lets users "rent, rip and return" DVDs. Basically, the MPAA said users can rent a DVD, copy it using the software, burn illegal copies and return the DVD.
"On its own Web site, RealNetworks acknowledges that this behavior is illegal and that its software could be used in that manner," the Hollywood studios noted.
RealNetworks maintains that it creates "innovative products that are fully legal" and are "respectful of the legitimate interests of content creators and rights holders." The company expects to continue to defend RealDVD and consumers' rights to use it.
"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," RealNetworks said.
RealNetworks also noted that it was quick to take legal action to protect consumers and their ability to exercise fair-use rights for the DVDs they purchased. RealNetworks said the DVD CCA, which represents all of the major movie studios, has previously sued another company over the same issues, but the trial court in that case -- DVD Copy Control Association Inc. v. Kaleidescape Inc in Santa Clara Superior Court -- ruled against DVD CCA and allowed the distribution of a product similar to RealDVD.
"Having lost the case once, the major studios are now trying to get a different result by going to a different court," RealNetworks said.