Real Settles Lawsuits, Will Stop Selling RealDVD 139
angry tapir writes "RealNetworks has agreed to pay $4.5 million and permanently stop selling its RealDVD software as part of a legal settlement with six Hollywood movie studios. The lawsuits date back to 2008 and Slashdot has previously discussed them. RealDVD is an application that lets people make copies of their DVDs."
I can't believe this ... (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:dd if=/dev/dvd of=dvd.iso (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:I can't believe this ... (Score:5, Insightful)
Rule 29 [schlockmercenary.com] applies here:
The enemy of my enemy is my enemy's enemy. No more, no less.
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:5, Insightful)
Technically, I've violated copyright law
No, I'm not a lawyer, but my understanding is that, in the U.S. anyway, you haven't violated copyright law, not even technically. Now, if you were to begin distributing those copies it's a different matter.
In fact, it might increase sales as I'll be more likely to watch DVD movies I buy and not just regard them as wasted cash.
Ha .. if these little bloodsuckers could get away selling you a disc that would play exactly once and then self-destruct Mission Impossible-style, believe me they would do it. They want you to consider your media a consumable, not a collectible.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Please, no! (Score:3, Insightful)
I remember when all online video was RealVideo.
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:3, Insightful)
In no location in the US is sex out of wedlock illegal.
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:3, Insightful)
When I buy DVDs (which I do more than I should..) the only time the disc is ever touched is when I rip it to drive.
I have a media server with 2.7TB of drive space and I hate fiddling with discs. I have scripts set up to rip and convert the movie to a high quality file with a more decent filesize than raw DVD.
Using this setup I have a whole lot more flexibility when it comes to what I want to watch when... Oh and there is no annoying as hell buzzing from the dvdrom....
The movie industry can, as so eloquently said by the bartender in "Boondock Saints":
"Why dont you make like a tree and get the fuck out of here".
Re:Please, no! (Score:3, Insightful)
So do I, and they sucked even worse then than they do now. Competetion is good for the consumers!
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:3, Insightful)
So? This says that you can still claim fair use as a defense to copyright infringement. But circumventing DRM isn't a copyright infringement...
Re:Oh no, we're screwed! (Score:1, Insightful)
If he copied the DRM -- his copy is still scrambled and contains the decryption key in the area of the DVD-R that is (or used to be? I haven't kept up) unburnable on blanks (for the entire purpose of preventing copying), then you're right. He didn't violate DMCA when he made the copy, since he didn't bypass the technological measure that limits access. (Instead, he violates DMCA every time he plays the disk, whether we're talking about the copy or the original.)
But if his copy is decrypted (no longer CSS-protected) he most certain did violate DMCA in making the copy. (The good news is that he only has to violate that one time; after that he can play the copy without further violating.)
The clause c that you quote, is pretty much meaningless and this has already been ruled on by judges. If it actually meant anything, don't you think 2600 would have won their case with MPAA?
Here's why: that section of DMCA may say it doesn't affect fair use rights, but those words run both ways. Sure, ok, so DMCA doesn't take away your right to make copies under fair use. But it does take away right right to read the original plaintext for the purpose of making that copy, and since nothing in 1201 ever at any times makes any sort of fair use exemption that allows people to read the disk, there are no fair use rights that are given which clause c protects.
Sorry, dude, but this has already gone to court and been decided, and the people lost. And we never voted for anyone to correct this bullshit, so it must be pretty much accepted.