321 Studios (DVD-X COPY) loses (badly!) DMCA legal ruling
321 Studios, the makers of DVD backup program DVD-X COPY, have lost (and lost big) in a legal decision.
http:/ /www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/MGM_v_321Studios/20040220_eff_pr.php
Court Endorses Ban on DVD Copy Technology
Electronic Frontier Foundation Urges Digital Copyright Law Reform
San Francisco - Consumers suffered a setback to their digital rights today when a California federal court sided with the major motion picture studios in ruling that a company creating tools people can use to make backup copies of their DVDs is liable under copyright law. Citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the court ordered 321 Studios, creator of DVD backup tools, to stop selling its DVD Copy Plus and DVD-X COPY products within seven days. 321 Studios is likely to appeal the ruling.
[Source material at:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMC
A/MGM_v_321Studios/
http://
www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/MGM_v_321Studios/20040219_Order.pdf
Read it and weep, folks. In the Order, every single geek argument is slammed, and slammed hard. In particular:
"This Court finds, as did both the Corley and Elcom courts, that legal downstream use of the copyrighted material by customers is not a defense to the software manufacturer's violation of the provisions of - 1201 (b)(1)."
Fair Use is no defense to the DMCA tools provision, sayeth this Court.]
By Seth Finkelstein | posted in copyblight , dmca , legal | on February 23, 2004 04:15 PM (Infothought permalink) | Followups
