BUSINESS: Judge bans DVD X Copy software

US District Judge Susan Illston banned the popular 'DVD X copy' program. Software maker 321 Studios has been given seven days to stop selling the program.

TheRegister

The ruling follows legal action brought against the developer by MGM Studios, Tristar Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Time Warner Entertainment, Disney, Universal City Studios and The Saul Zaentz Company last May. The movie companies alleged 321's product violated the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

US District Judge Susan Illston, delivering her verdict on Friday, agreed - and formally banned 321 form manufacturing, distributing or otherwise trafficking in the DVD X Copy series.

Shortly after the judge's decision was announced, 321 stated its intention to appeal against the ruling and to request that the ruling be suspended until the appeal has been judged.

321 offers a number of version of DVD X Copy, all based on DeCSS, the open source DVD content descrambler written to allow Linux users to watch DVDs on their computers and already the focus of considerable legal activity.

Hope this decision is reversed.Seems like some people dont understand the technology.



[Edited on 23-2-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Whew! I'm glad I got my copies already.

I hope this decision does get reversed. It is really nice to be able to back up my favorite discs and watch the copies because they inevitably get scratched. The software has some other great features like the ability to recover damaged discs.

Pffft!! Big Deal. I never used that program to record DVD's anyways. I use free programs that you can get online to record my DVD movies. So this doesn't affect me one bit.

In other news, program is still widely available due to pirating. Judge declared a dumbass.

[Edited on 2-23-2004 by EliteXizer]

Originally posted by EliteXizer
In other news, program is still widely available due to pirating. Judge declared a dumbass.

LMAO!! Damn Right!

This just gets nuttier. Now 3-2-1 Studios is going to keep selling the software without the decoder bult in. Users would have to get one on their own.
DVD Software Revamped

"NEW YORK (AP) -- The maker of DVD-duplication software ruled in violation of copyright law is nevertheless pledging to keep selling it -- but without a built-in tool for descrambling movies. "