

Unless you love copy protection, root for RealDVD in its court battle. - technologizer
http://technologizer.com/2009/08/11/realdepressing-realdvd-loses-a-round-in-court/

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grellas
The logic of the old Betamax case, treating as fair use the copying from VHS
tapes by individual consumers for their own individual use, is undercut by the
DMCA's provision prohibiting trafficking in devices that circumvent DRM - in
this case, RN's DVD ripper software.

A loss for consumers, as noted in the original post.

This came in the form of a preliminary injunction granted by the same San
Francisco federal trial court judge who essentially shuttered Napster some
years ago. Though preliminary in nature, the ruling likely portends what the
outcome will be at trial a year or two down the road.

More helpful analysis, with links to original documents, may be found at
<http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/>.

And a surprisingly negative analysis (found in the first comment below the
blog post) from the program manager for Real Network's Linux-based version of
the program appears here:
[http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/realdvd-p...](http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/realdvd-
preliminary-injunction-hearing.html). This gives a picture of some of the
weaknesses in RN's legal position in light of how the software works.

The court battle would appear to be a losing one for Real Networks, even as
continued technological developments likely will make this a Pyrrhic victory
over the long term for the Hollywood studios.

