RealDVD case proves real expensive
Real Networks has abandoned its battle to have its DVD ripping software declared legal. It’s agreed to permanently cease selling the RealDVD program and to pay $4.5 million in legal fees.
Shortly after launching the software, Real Networks was hit with a lawsuit by the Motion Picture Association of America. The judge in the case almost immediately imposed an injunction banning RealDVD for sale, an injunction which has remained in place ever since.
The legal argument largely came down to the distinction between the letter and the spirit of the law. The Digital Millennium Copyright Act makes it illegal to release or sell any software which can remove digital protection systems.
Real Networks argued that RealDVD didn’t technically do this as it simply found a way to copy an entire disc, including the CSS protection system included on commercial DVDs (effectively meaning the copied disc itself was also protected). The MPAA argued that this was simply semantics and that RealDVD bypassing CSS was simply another way of making sure it didn’t work.
The courts agreed with that argument, upholding the junction, making it permanent, and then rejecting an appeal. Real Networks’ settlement, which may cost it the best part of $10 million including its own legal fees, suggests it concluded that further appeals would simply waste more cash.
The firm is now asking the 2,700 people who bought the software before the injunction to uninstall it in return for a refund. It’s also turning off an online service which automatically provides data about discs such as cover images.
The case doesn’t directly affect a separate DVD ripping product, Kaleidoscope, which has also faced legal challenges. That case does not center on the copyright laws, but rather than in bypassing CSS, the makers have breached the license which applies to all use of DVD technology.
Its possible that the copyright issue may still come up in that case. In that event, a judge could take the RealDVD verdicts into account but isn’t legally bound to do so.
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