Re: [dvd-discuss] banned software on sale in compusa

["John Zulauf" <johnzu(at)ia.nsc.com>]

The product is also on sale at amazon.com (with a 0 stars vs. 5 stars
war of reviews) full "find a store" listing is here:

http://www.dvdcopyplus.com/order_bundle/retailers.htm



"James S. Tyre" wrote:
> 
> At 06:45 PM 12/19/2002 -0500, Jeremy Erwin wrote:
> >While shopping for christmas, gifts at compUSA , i came across copy of
> >dvd-copy-x (or a similar sounding name). It promises the user the ability
> >to "backup" dvd-video to dvd-ram/cdr.
> 
> http://321studios.com/
> 
> They've had a declaratory relief DMCA lawsuit pending against the studios
> for awhile, no decisions yet, http://321studios.com/lawsuit.htm

I just review this article in the SF Chronicle

Compare and contrast:

"Our view is that any product or service that
 circumvents the copyright protection scrambling
 technology on DVDs" opens the door to criminal
 prosecution under the 1998 Digital Millennium
 Copyright Act, said Marta Grutka, spokeswoman for
 the Motion Picture Association of America."

and 

"The studios have not responded to the suit, but
 instead filed a motion to dismiss it on grounds that
 there is no current dispute between the industry and
 321 Studios."

and 

"The MPAA, which represents the movie studios
 named in the suit, has repeatedly declined to
 comment on 321 Studios' products because of the
 suit. Grutka, the group's spokeswoman, would only
 comment in general terms about provisions in the
 DMCA that make it a criminal offense to use
 technology to circumvent the industry-standard
 scrambling system that prevents copying of a DVD
 movie. " 

Now somebody help me here.  How can there be "no current dispute" and
the organization representing the movie studios holding that 321's
actions are illegal.  Aren't there some ethics standards that prevent
claiming no dispute, when in fact that same party's representation
claims (and states publicly) to have grounds to press criminal charges
against the other?

IANAL. Help Mr. Wizard!!!!

> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> James S. Tyre                               mailto:jstyre@jstyre.com
> Law Offices of James S. Tyre          310-839-4114/310-839-4602(fax)
> 10736 Jefferson Blvd., #512               Culver City, CA 90230-4969
> Co-founder, The Censorware Project             http://censorware.net