RealNetworks has been forced to temporarily suspend sales of RealDVD due to a legal battle with the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA). The ban officially started yesterday morning.
In U.S. District Court today, Judge Marilyn Hall Patel is taking two lawsuits into consideration -- one filed by Real Networks, and the other filed by the MPAA -- that involve the copying software, which was promoted as the first legal software suite that makes it easy for users to copy DVDs.
The case was moved from the Los Angeles Central District of California to the Northern District of San Francisco, a court more sympathetic towards technology companies and their particular needs.
The MPAA alleges the new software suite makes it possible for people to "rent, rip and return" the movies, while RealNetworks said RealDVD should be used only for legally owned movies.
RealDVD adds an additional layer of DRM and allows users to play ripped movies on up to five different computers and forces customers to install RealDVD on each PC.
While the actual demand of RealDVD is unknown, free software such as DVDShrink and DVDFab HD Decrypter remain widely available on the Internet. Depending on how the case turns out, companies creating data backup software may have to walk a fine line with possible serious copyright implications.
The following movie studios are involved in the lawsuit: Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Universal, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney and Warner Bros.
This message has been published on the RealDVD web site: "Due to recent legal action taken by the Hollywood Movie studios against us, RealDVD is temporarily unavailable. Rest assured, we will continue to work diligently to provide you with software that allows you to make a legal copy of DVDs for your own use."
It was possible the temporary suspension could have been lifted after 24 hours, but RealDVD will be unavailable until at least October 14. RealDVD is available with a $49.99 MSRP, although can be found -- once the suspension has been lifted -- for $29.99.
Ummm.... sorry, I got nothin' for this.
[shrugs shoulders and walks away]
any moron can find dvd shrink and decrypter on the net so who in there right mind would pay for limited software?
Not everyone wants to be a pirate. I for one would love to put my DVD movies on my laptop without the need to bring the discs and I don't want to be a pirate. I have a job where if someone ever found out I pirate stuff I would be in trouble.
Well, maybe you ought to join iTunes then and everyone at work will be happy. Meanwhile, everyone else will just rip their DVDs and Bluray discs with AnyDVDHD.
RexHunt your not a Pirate it's called "Fair Use Rights Law" to copy what you own as long as your not on a street corner selling copys where is there a problem? We as American's for years were allowed legally to copy VHS tapes or TV shows for own private viewing so the concept to me is still the same and it should be to others. This new DRM concept is just a form of taking away your freedom to copy what you already own even know there is a DMCA doesn't mean it's right or fair for the consumer buying said products please keep this in mind.
DRM isn't the answear to this problem and it was always a bad marketting model for selling content as it's unfair to consumers buying the content who should have the basic rights they had years ago I am not against a price scheme but it must be fair and reasonable to work and will work if the RIAA , MPAA were more flexable with consumers both on pricing the content and copying the content.
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