Showdown in Hollywood Because of DVD Ripper

In Hollywood, the practice is called “rent, rip and return” – and at the moment it is said to be the biggest ever technological threat of the entire movie industry’s DVD market. This is software which allows you to duplicate a film even if you do not pay for it. Last Friday, there were many industry lawyers who had urged some federal judges to ban the company RealNetworks Inc. because they were selling software which allow their consumers and clients to duplicate their DVDs to their computer’s hard drives. They argue that this product is also a form of illegal pirating tool.

Counter Responses by RealNetworks’ Lawyers

However, the lawyers over at the RealNetworks’ side think otherwise. They maintain that their product, the RealDVD, also has a piracy protection unit. This is able to limit the owner of a DVD to just make one copy and come up with a legitimate method of creating back-up copies of legally purchased movies. The federal judge who had shut down Napster back in 2000, which is a music-swapping site (due to copyright violations), is now presiding over a three day trial. This three day trial is also expected to get to the heart of this technological upheaval that is currently aggravating the whole of Hollywood and had forever changed the way things run in the music business. Their studios also fear that RealNetworks might also be allowed to peddle their RealDVD software and that the consumers will then lose all interest in handing over money in exchange for movies which are DVD – movies that can be rented for a very cheap cost only to be copied and then returned.

Violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act

The lawyers of Hollywood also maintain that this software by RealNetworks is currently violating another act, which is the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Such an act targets illegal software and tools which enable digital piracy. It has also been contended that shoppers will condone this type of illegal behavior if the product of RealNetwork will be allowed for sale on the market. As a lawyer who is representing Hollywood studios, Bart Williams had declared to a judge that there is much evidence which shows that the litigation shows of RealNetworks engineers are purchasing this copying software which is illegal in the United States coming from a Ukrainian company.
Williams argues that one ought not to copy these DVDs and this very act is what RealDVD does. The objective of Real in this matter is to generate income out of the investments of the studio in producing these movies and albums – without actually paying for it. RealNetwork maintains that their products are legal and serve to fulfill consumer demand of a method to convert their DVDs into a digital form as a way of convenient storage as well as viewing.