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Unless you love copy protection, root for RealDVD in its court battle.
- grellas 17y agoThe 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/ 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-preliminary-injunction-hearing.html http://copyrightsandcampaigns.blogspot.com/2009/04/realdvd-p.... 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.