Copying owned-DVDs illegal - US Court Ruling

[Ponmayilal]

U.S. Court Rules Consumers Never Have the Right to Copy DVD Movies

Making one copy is stealing one copy, says MPAA

This week a landmark verdict was handed down to RealNetworks with deep implications for fair use and personal property in America. The ruling wasn't about filesharing, piracy, or malicious computer use. Rather, it was fight over whether users should be able to make copies of digital content that they legal own. And in a precedent-setting decision, the media companies beat a small software vendor and fair use advocates and laid down an imposing decision -- copying DVDs that you own is illegal.

The suit filed against RealNetworks centered around the company's RealDVD software, which ripped through protection technology to allow users to make digital copies of their legally-owned content. RealNetworks had plans to release a DVD drive/software bundle called Facet, which would make the process even quicker and easier.

The company's business model, though, was put to the legal test. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed suit against the company over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and breach of contract in a lawsuit filed last fall. The MPAA's assertion was simple -- consumers do not have the right to copy DVD movies -- ever.

RealNetwork's defense was that the ARccOS and RipGuard protection technologies it circumvented weren't designed as anti-copying technologies, and further that anti-copying technology was built on CSS, something that RealNetworks held patents on and licensed. It argued that as it owned these rights, it had a right to alter the resulting software This defense fell apart when it was established that ARccOS and RipGuard are not, in fact, included in the CSS license.

In the end U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel ruled against RealNetworks, ordering it to stop selling software. Wrote Judge Patel in the decision, "RealDVD makes a permanent copy of copyrighted DVD content and by doing so breaches its (Content Scramble System) License Agreement with the (DVD Copy Control Association, the group that oversees the protection of DVDs for the major Hollywood studios) and circumvents a technological measure that effectively controls access to or copying of the Studios' copyrighted content on DVDs."

The MPAA met the verdict with elation. MPAA Chairman and CEO Dan Glickman states, "We are very pleased with the court's decision. This is a victory for the creators and producers of motion pictures and television shows and for the rule of law in our digital economy. Judge Patel's ruling affirms what we have known all along: Real took a license to build a DVD-player and instead made an illegal DVD-copier."

RealNetworks has complied with the ruling and has suspended sales on its website, though it will likely try to appeal the decision.

The case represents a landmark, precedent-setting ruling in terms of fair use. It sets the precedent that not only declares that media-copying software which circumvents copy-protection technologies is illegal, but also adds legal credence to the MPAA and RIAA's argument that consumers making copies of legally purchased DVDs and CDs is a crime.

While enforcement of such laws on individual citizens is prohibitively expensive for these organizations, it gives them room to lobby law enforcement to take on the fiscal burden and begin investigating and prosecuting citizens




Source:http://www.dailytech.com/US+Court+Ru...ticle15969.htm

[x3060]

thats where india come..... copy as long as you ever need

[desiibond]

of course, it is illegal and do we need a court ruling to know that???

[MetalheadGautham]

^^Wrong you are. Its illegal in U$ and not in India.

[Liverpool_fan]

Wait a sec. Does this mean consumers can't create even BACKUP copies of their media?
In that case FSCK YOU, MPAA and U$.

[Ponmayilal]

After going through the many comments on the article in the Dailytech website, this is what I have understood.

One is still allowed to keep a backup copy, as explicitly provided under the "fair use" clause.
That would mean that you could legally keep an ISO image of the disc on your machines.(Presumption: You will not play the DVD ISO from your Hard Disk)
If your DVD gets damaged, you can then burn it on a single layer or Dual layer DVD media as the case may be and use it.

The point is, it has to be on a DVD media that should be played on "authorised" DVD players. In this case, either hardware DVD players or software DVD players.

Ripping,storing and playing such rips in any other fashion or Digital media source will be construed as copying and illegal.

Note: In any case this is not a final verdict. RealNetworks will now appeal to a higher court. Only when the highest judicial body of the land declares so, it becomes final.

[NucleusKore]

After going through the many comments on the article in the Dailytech website, this is what I have understood.

One is still allowed to keep a backup copy, as long as he does not circumvent any copy protection on the DVD.

That would mean that you could legally keep an ISO image of the disc on your machines.

..................

Now I don't get you.

Can you make an iso image of the DVD without decrypting it?

[fun2sh]

who cares. i will still copy if i were in America. suck u MPAA

[Ponmayilal]

Now I don't get you.

Can you make an iso image of the DVD without decrypting it?

You hit the pot.Thanks and that prompted a relook of the comments (there are 180+) and edit my previous post.

Here are some excerpts.

"You can copy a DVD by making a clone of it, which does not involve tampering with the DRM. Therefore you can make your backup copy without breaking the law."


"there is nothing in the ruling to prevent you from keeping a backup of the CSS ENCRYPTED data on another medium as you have not in any way circumvented CSS, however, playback from that medium might be considered "circumventing" CSS under DMCA. Therefore, keeping an ISO image of your DVD on your HD or other medium for backup purposes should be permissible, however, you'll put yourself at risk if you attempt playback from a non-authorized device, therefore, burning the ISO image to an appropriate DL DVD disk for playback may be necessary."


"I never said anything about circumventing copyright protection. You do not need to do that when backing up a DVD - simply back it up w/ the copyright protection in place. As long as I don't sign a contract w/ the MPAA and CSS foundation that I will not do such things ( as RealNetworks did ), I'll be fine."


Heated comments are still pouring in on many websites.And the comments make a good reading.

[NucleusKore]

Ok thanks for the clarification. It hasn't worked for me in Nero or K3b.

[MetalheadGautham]

Ok thanks for the clarification. It hasn't worked for me in Nero or K3b.

you need something like blindwrite.

[Faun]

DRM itself is a rootkit/virus...lol. Great going America !

[Techn0crat]

But how they will know what's on my hard disk?

[din]

Hmm, can't make a backup DVD, but allowing only one ISO file ic HDD ? What if the original DVD stop working and HDD crash ? Rare case I agree. But not allowing users to keep a backup copy in DVD is sure not a good thing

[Stuge]

^^Wrong you are. Its illegal in U$ and not in India.

yup! people think US is godfather and feel their laws and regulations applies in India as well ,but thats not right lol

[nikomi]

I bought this dvd is very cool

---------- Post added at 03:05 AM ---------- Previous post was at 02:59 AM ----------

ofcours around so

[NoasArcAngel]

dude.... actually i read some time back that you are allowed to download / create a copy of the media you own . ... like i own a blu - ray version of batman the dark knight i can download a dvd version and it will not be termed as illegal

[paper_heart_21]

lol......is it illegal !!

[Ponmayilal]

OMG.........this thread is still kicking! Time for me to shove in myself after a long recess.

Here is the latest on the case. (one month old but I saw it only today )

http://www.dailytech.com/RealDVD+Cas...ticle17825.htm

Also read all the comments under that report.

[Aberforth]

Fortunately, most of us don't live in United States and hence, don't come under the purview of this court ruling.