StealDVD? Well, You Were Asking for It…
by John Paczkowski
Posted on September 30, 2008 at 12:24 PM PT
Well, that didn’t take long at all, did it? The Motion Picture Association of America has filed suit against RealNetworks (RNWK), seeking an injunction to stop the company from distributing its RealDVD DVD-ripping software. The MPAA argues that RealDVD violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act because it circumvents the copyright protection that protects DVDs from piracy.
The MPAA “RealNetworks’ RealDVD should be called StealDVD,” said MPAA Executive Vice President and General Counsel Greg Goeckner in a 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.”
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