Re: [dvd-discuss] Movie studios sue more software-makers

[microlenz(at)earthlink.net]

On 16 May 2003 at 16:38, Wendy Seltzer wrote:

Date sent:      	Fri, 16 May 2003 16:38:24 -0700
To:             	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu
From:           	Wendy Seltzer <wendy@seltzer.com>
Subject:        	[dvd-discuss] Movie studios sue more software-makers
Send reply to:  	dvd-discuss@eon.law.harvard.edu

> Not content with fighting 321 Studios -- or maybe hoping to tarnish 
> 321 by association, the movie studios have sued several makers of DVD 
> copying software.  I haven't seen  any more info than this from 
> Edupage and Reuters:
> 
> MOVIE STUDIOS TAKE DVD SOFTWARE MAKERS TO COURT
> Major Hollywood movie studios this week filed two separate lawsuits
> against makers of software that allows users to copy DVDs. A suit in
> U.S. District Court in New York seeks to prevent Enterprises Inc.,
> RDestiny LLC, HowtocopyDVDs.com, DVDBackupbuddy.com, and DVDSqueeze.com
> from selling DVD-copying software. The other lawsuit, in federal court
> in California, seeks a similar injunction against 321 Studios, maker of
> DVD X Copy and DVD Copy Plus software. 321 Studios had filed a
> preemptory suit last year, hoping to obtain a judge's decision that
> its product does not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
> (DMCA). The software makers argue that fair-use provisions of copyright
> law allow users to make backup copies of DVDs they have legally
> purchased. Movie studios dispute this. They say that circumventing the
> copy protections of a DVD is illegal under the DMCA, regardless of any
> fair-use rights.

Actually, this sounds almost positive...The legal profession, aside from those 
who have adapted already ( ;-), is now being confronted with the question- If 
technological measures can eliminate Fair use, then that legal doctrine has 
been circumvented. IF that doctrine HAD merit then it HAS merit and its 
preservation is more compelling than the preservation of profits masquerading 
as "intellectual property"

> Reuters, 15 May 2003
> http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?storyID=2753527
> -- 
> --
> Wendy Seltzer -- wendy@seltzer.com || wendy@eff.org
> Staff Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation
> Fellow, Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School
> http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/seltzer.html