Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox have gone after Tritton Technologies, QOJ, World Reach and Proto Ventures, claiming their distribution of DVD-copying software violates copyright law.

Hollywood filed in New York federal court demanding unspecified damages and a court-ordered halt to the distribution of the various software packages.

Tritton released its DVD CopyWare software, created by an affiliated European company, to mainstream retail channels in August, says John Borland in a CNET NEWS.com story here, going on that the other companies distribute largely online, through Web sites including QOJ's copiesanything.com and World Reach's dvdfastcopy.com.

It's the second suit aimed at software meant to give consumers the ability to easily copy DVDs using standard computer equipment.

"Hollywood executives fear that such software will help push them into the same cycle of piracy and falling revenues that the music industry is now facing," says Borland.

"A coalition of Hollywood studios led by the Motion Picture Association of America sued 321 Studios, creator of DVD X Copy and the leader in the DVD backup software market, last year. An initial ruling in the case is expected any time. The studios contend that 321's software violates provisions of copyright law that bars distribution of software that circumvents anticopying protections."

Tritton Chief Executive Christopher von Huben said, in a recent interfiew, that he didn't expect to be sued because his company was simply acting as distributor for the CopyWare software, rather than creating it.

Most DVDs are loaded with a copy-protection technology called Content Scramble System, or CSS, but information on how to crack that protection, and tools that do it automatically, have been widely available online for several years.

"Studios have won several victories in their legal attempts to push that information offline, winning a court order barring publisher Eric Corley from posting one of the software tools, called DeCSS, on his Web site or even linking to other sites that were making the program available," adds Borland.

"However, 321's software, which is much simpler to use, has been available on retail shelves at mainstream stores such as CompUSA for months."

They want all the marbles or they will go home(sadly they wont go). 321 is a nice little program too....i guess thats why they hate it so much

"Same song, second verse...." This is ridiculous....

CSS, Encrypted VOB's, those guys really need to work harder if you really want to stop people copying DVD's, personally I feel that it is my right to make copies of media that I have purchased, as long as it is for personal use, for example, I can rip four DVD's to .avi and reburn them onto a 4.7GB dvd using idvd, ready to take out on the road, or watch on my home dvd player, no need to carry eighty quids worth of discs around with me... If they are worried about declining sales and raising piracy levels, then maybe they should drop the price a little?? £20 for a dvd is a joke, thats something like $34 US.

UK alwasy gets ripped off. DVD prices in the US I feel are fair. But at any rate we should have the right to make a backup copy of a DVD. But their CSS prevents us from doing so legally. Perhaps a lawsuit bought by an individual against the industry for taking away their fair use rights is in order.

Since when did something that, in decades before now, rate little interest at all, i.e. copyright infringement, become the be all and end all of the entertainment industry.
If they put one tenth of the energy and money into making their products worth a crap, perhaps more people would be buying them, and they wouldn't have to build up this straw man about filesharing and disc copying.
Big fat media needs to get a life and go about the business of making and distributing entertainment, and quit attacking the little man. Message to RIAA and MPAA...you keep pushing us and pushing us...and then act astonished when we fight back..
321...right on!

I dont believe 20 dollars for a dvd is fair. They will still make a huge amount of cash if they dropped the price below 10. There is no way that they are going to win this. Its like when they tried to sue the makers of the VCR. 321 cannot control the end users. They can only cover there ass by putting warnings up.

Corporate entertainment at it's finest, wanting to control what we hear, see and do with our computers, When it gets to the point that my computer is actually telling me what I can and can not do, I will wall away from it. Same goes for the internet. If corporate America take over the internet, it will become just like a shopping mall, with over priced every thing.

Well, they better come get my dual cassette player, my dual VHS player, because it makes it too easy to copy their so called "intellectual property", which in my feelings is a total farce. What company was it that started using the term "intellectual property" in the first place? Did they have a monopoly on their media too?

~goingnova [yo ho ho and a bottle of rum]

"Hollywood executives fear that such software will help push them into the same cycle of piracy and falling revenues that the music industry is now facing."

Good. I'm so tired of recycled 70s television shows and comic books as excuses for movies.

There is nothing entertaining about entertainment when you are treated like criminals as a prerequisite.

Good comparison to the mall woodhead, that's one of the reasons I rarely shop there (that and getting lost heh heh).

I consider copying DVDs you have bought (and therefore own) no more illegal than taping a TV show. In fact, by all logical purposes it could be LESS illegal - you paid to own the DVD then copied it, but with the tape you recorded something you didn't necessarily have the right to own, since you didn't pay for a tape of that show (just your TV bill, though). But nobody's going to say taping an episode of "Who's Line is it Anyway?" or something or other is illegal, are they? Not nowadays anyway.

Yesterday I purchased a hard cover book. After reading it I will lend it to a friend. Books are copyrighted so do I need to worry that the F.B.P. (federal book police)will now charge me.
After all it is sharing a copyrighted work. Where will it all stop.

Matt, don't try anything risky.

The FBP is gathering subpoenas and is now ready to file lawsuits.

I really wish I could start backing up my DVDs before I miss the chance. I tend to buy full boxsets in wich if you loose one disk you would have to pay for all the others. I don't think that there is anything right about that. Last I checked we had the right to back them up. Killing the tools to do so kills our ability to do what we have the legal right to do.

As for the mention of CSS really used for I will let this little statement from this guy sum it up. Its only part of a much bigger whole and is quite old but still valid.

MATT PAVLOVICH, declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct
"It is my opinion based on the fact that professional pirates can and are easily copying and selling many tens of thousands of copied DVDs around the world every day that the real function and intended use of CSS is to control and prohibit access to the information on the DVD: It is not an anti-copying device, it is an anti-playing device."

It was never about copy protection. It was about million dollar licencing fees for a product that controls content playback as the big wigs see fit.

Gotta have that control. Same thing here they cant control it so it needs to die.

Actually, DVD was designed to control the end users. After considering the VCR, the various studios and technology companies which defined the DVD standard decided they should have total control over the capabilities of DVD and the license to manufacture players and discs. This allowed them to introduce features which, if the consumer had a choice, they would choose not to buy. Features such as region codeing, macrovision protection and a ban on saveing to unencrypted formats. That was the purpose of CSS. Althrough it prevented ripping, it also forced manufacturers to comply with the license which required those unwanted features. CSS is part of the CPSA system, which will edventually extend the same princible to other CE devices, such as DVD recorders and PVRs, requireing they obey similar conditions. For example, one condition is that CPSA-based PVRs can only save to an encrypted drive, and can only save to an unencrypted disc if the content is explicitly marked "copy freely". Intrestingly, broadcast content is marked as "copy once", which allows users to make a PVR or DVD-R copy for time shifting, but prevents a copy being made of this copy.

DVD copying can be done entirely with freeware. Some technical skill is required of course because of the various decryptors, wrapper handlers, demuxers, decompressors, formaters, recompressors, muxors, subtitle strippers and other utilities required. But it can be done.

Before DVD, the SVCD could still store video at quality superior to VHS, through the disc did need flipping. The format was not a huge success in the US through because of the lack of support from major studios, scared of piracy.

Heck, why don't they go after dual-deck VCRs, Audio cassette recorders, and photocopiers while they're at it?

They lost that battle long ago.

It's weird big companys will sell the stuff for making copies but as soon as you use it the same compay will accuse you of piracy. Ie Sony will be only to glad to take a couple of hundred pounds of you for a mini disc recorder. Now was anyone tried to buy a pre-recorded mini disc i don't know about the rest of the world but it's near impossable in the uk. Sony even do a net mini disc recorder what other use would it be but to copy downloaded music on to. Also I have a mini-disc in the car, now mini-disc is perfect for the car the media is small, easy to store they can slide about the floor with out getting dammaged, now do the companys and the riaa expect us to purchase all our existing music on a new media. Sony also do an in-car cd player with a hard drive in it so you can simply copy you cd on to it and leave the cd in the house

Its funny how they fight for something that they cant win... oh ya and DIDNt win last time..

So quail, the question is, is it stubbornness or pure stupidity?

How funny they go after the DVD software copying makers. A news article out yesterday cited insiders as the biggest sources of bootleg movies on the Internet (thanks to clipping a screener on DVD). Maybe the MPAA should be looking at themselves first before casting stones at these companies or folks who DL movies.

I said it before and I'll say it again - this is bullshit! If you pay the $20 some for the DVD you should be able to do whatever you want with it!

Yeah, "piracy." Just as I'd predicted way back when. As if the junk that passes for "product," and (in some areas) the political affiliation of some of the major "stars" in certain movies, not to mention the lingering effects of job losses, have nothing to do with their coming predicament.

Yet another manifestation of the anti-technology BIGOTRY among the multinational entertainment-media complex.

I tell you, RIAA, MPAA, and DirectTV are all making things rather dull in life. I foresee that if they take over the net then we'll simply start a new net. At the rate technology is moving at today we could have a totally free or inexpensive peer-to-peer network, probably similar to the old BBS systems, without a log-in point (gauranteed that the few service providers standing up for your rights now will turn on you like a rabid dog when that happens) within the next decade. Freedom knows no bounds and history has shown that when a medium becomes to commerciallized the consumers move on the greener pastures.

So? The RIAA goes after the little girls

I use DVD X Copy and I love it. What were to happen if I didn't make backup copies of my dvd's or vhs tapes and there was a fire or flood in my house? Sure my insurance would pay for it but that would mean my insurance rates would go up. How would I be able to prove that I had 200 dvd's to the insurance company? Or lets say I had a movie that was out of print and I didn't make a backup copy and something happened to it.

Making a backup copy is sort of like preventive maintenance in my opinion. Spending that extra $5 for a blank dvd to make a copy would save me money. I wouldn't have to give the movie companies another $20 for a movie that I already bought. Then again that's what the movie companies want people to do.

gdZiemann- not me, I want more movies made from 70s TV shows and comic heros...
For example...I can't wait for
LEAVE IT TO BEAVER..The Movie...
w/ Hilary Rosen as June, Mitch Bainwol as Ward, and of course, Cary-Sue as Eddie Haskell.
And, as for comic books...
There's SHYSTER-MAN- his power is he is able to conjure up IP addresses and subpoenas out of thin air...and his tagline is...Faster Than A Speeding Ambulance...it's SHYSTER-Man

Well, guess i should go out and buy a copy of DVD X Copy before they are all gone.

you know, it amazes me that these industries are so narrow. They should be embracing this tech rather than trying to ban it. They could save so much money on packaging and retailing it at actual stores. All they need to do is begin selling copies of movies and music over the net at a reasonable price...(aka: not trying to make thier fortune overnight) They could make Billions and Billions!

But hey! lets try to anger the people that feed us! lets try to criminalize everyone that buys our stuff! Where are the 12yo girls and the old men for us to demonize?!

Tell you what, I have absolutely no problem in extending the boycott to the Motion Picture Association of America and all that they represent. I havent seen very many good movies come out lately anyway!

Look at it this way, we will all save a lot of money. We wont have to pay $8.00 to get into a movie theater that has scratched screens, gum-stained seats, loud guests, or over-priced popcorn. We wont have to dump $20 on a soda pop, box of candy, and a popcorn either!

Woohooo! I might actually be able to afford a house! (if the RIAA doesnt try to swindle me out of it!)

- Jolly Roger

- What do you mean you have no Junior Mints?!

Mattnj, it is completely legal for you to buy a CD and loan it to a friend, so no. Just don't read a book in a public place

I wonder how many millions $$ publishers have lost due to photocopier piracy? If you apply their style of reasoning, every student must own a complete encyclopedia set if they bring photocopied content from one out of a library. Even then, the photocopy should be scrambled so only that student can read it. In addition, once a student is done with the set, they do not have permission to transfer ownership. Each student must buy their own encyclopedia set (some Adobe eBooks can't be transferred, so why should real books be any different?)

lol... there would be riots... The fact that there aren't just demonstrates how little people understand technology. Ever heard of TCPA? Palladium? The Fritz chip? Big things are coming to an OS near you that make the RIAA's crimes almost seem innocent. We know we can trust M$ not to abuse the sheer power this new system will give them. For example, "Files can be revoked by content, by the serial number of the application that created them, and by a number of other criteria."

It deserves its own article, but it's definitely something you need to read up on if you haven't yet:
http://www.notcpa.org/faq.html

RE: ZeonMusic's thread response.

True Zeon, you bought the CD/DVD/Tape/8-Track/Software box/etc. It started with the software companies i believe. Companies like Microsoft told you that you are buying the "right" to use thier software, that you dont own the software simply cause you bought it. All you own is the "right" to use it. The rest of the "intellectual Property" industry, having nothing to market except the ideas of their artists, no real product, resorted to the same tactic.

They would have you believe that you are purchasing thier DVD disk, and the nifty packaging that it came in, and the "right" to view the product that is contained on it.

Anyone remember the DIVX Disk players that came out at about the same time as DVD players? one of the major elements of those players was the ability of the Motion Picture Industry to limit the amount of times you could play back a disk. thus you would have to buy more viewing times and thus they could shaft us all and make tons of money selling us the "right" to view the disk full of data that we purchased from them. This IMHO is one of the major reasons that the industry tried to push that format on us - DUH! and also the reason that format died quickly.

The very concepts of "Intellectual Property" and "rights of use" are evil and must be reversed!

When i go to the store and purchase software, or a DVD, or a music CD...I am buying the disk, the package, AND whatever is contained on the medium! I bought it outright...you sold me the copy of it, it is now mine to do with as i see fit! I can alter it, copy it, lend it to my neighbor, i can share it with the world! IT IS MINE!!!

You sold it to me, if you wanted to retain control over it, you shouldnt have sold it to me!

The concept of telling me im buying a right to use something you made is obcene! What if that were true of the hamburger I bought from McDonalds?!

What are you going to do...sell me the "rights" to use your hamburger?! How would you control what i do with it?

if i give it to my dog...is that illegal?!

How would you "revoke" my "rights" to have your hamburger? How would you recover it?! I would love to see that!

Tell you what...you can have your hamburger back after I am finished with it!

Likewise...a message to the industries out there that think they have sold me "rights" to use thier software...you can have it back ...when im done with it! (of course...you will have to buy it from me)

- Jolly Roger

- Raiders or Broncos this Monday?