Hollywood’s RealDVD lawsuit “not about piracy”

 

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Posted on 13 Oct 2008 at 14:29

Hollywood’s attempt to suppress RealNetworks’ new DVD copying software has nothing to do with fighting piracy and everything to do with controlling innovation, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Last week, Hollywood’s major studios won an injunction against the RealDVD software, which allows users to copy DVDs without breaking the discs’ legally protected DRM. The studios claim the software will encourage piracy - illegal copying - of DVDs.

But the EFF’s senior staff attorney Fred von Lohmann says this is nonsense.

“It's not about piracy,” he says. “After all, those who want to copy DVDs have plenty of free, widely available, easy-to-use software to choose from. And those who want to skip the tedium of DVD ripping altogether can easily download movies from unauthorised sources like The Pirate Bay. In short, Hollywood can't possibly believe that the $30, DRM-hobbled RealDVD software represents a piracy threat in an environment rife with easier options.”

The real motive behind the lawsuit is to send a message about what happens to those who innovate without permission, he says.

“DRM systems like the Content Scramble System (CSS) used on DVDs are not principally about preventing piracy. Rather, DRM is the legal ‘hook’ that forces technology companies to enter into licence agreements before they build products that can play movies (Hollywood lawyers candidly admit this "hook IP" strategy). Those licence agreements, in turn, define what the devices can and can't do, thereby protecting Hollywood business models from disruptive innovation.”

Instead Hollywood is pushing its own methods for users to acquire digital content - whether it’s the yet-to-materialise managed copy of Blu-ray discs, the introduction of digital copy or the slow rollout of movie downloads services from the likes of Apple and Amazon.

“It’s not that Hollywood implacably hates personal use format-shifting and space-shifting - rather, Hollywood wants to make sure those new features happen on Hollywood's terms (‘pay us again’), on Hollywood‘s timetable (‘later’),” van Lohmann says.

Author: Simon Aughton