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Victory for Vidders

AgentSmith — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 11:16:27 +0000

Now the dust has settled on the long-awaited announcement of new DMCA circumvention exemptions, it’s time for an explanation of what they will (and will not) do for consumers and creators, writes Corynne McSherry (right) in an important EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) post. “We’ll start with a tremendously important exemption that we fear was somewhat overlooked in the excitement about jailbreaking and unlocking”, she says. And that’s “breaking DVD encryption in order to take short clips for purposes of criticism and commentary for noncommercial use, educational use and documentary films.” This “represents many months of hard work by an array of public interest groups”, McSherry states, continuing > > > … the EFF led the charge on behalf of vidders (with invaluable support from the Organization for Transformative Works, among others).

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Victory for Vidders

Permissiveness Added to American Anti-Circumvention Laws

Zocor — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 06:57:31 +0000

While ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) lines up US as one of the advocates of severe copyright rules (abroad), it the laws surrounding anti-circumvention don’t seem just as tough. The Courthouse News Service mentioned late last week that according to a court’s decision, the mere act of breaking a digital lock is not, in and of itself, an infringement. The report says: “Merely bypassing a technological protection that restricts a user from viewing or using a work is insufficient to trigger the (Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s) anti-circumvention provision,” Judge Garza wrote for the New Orleans-based court.

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Permissiveness Added to American Anti-Circumvention Laws

Court: breaking DRM for a "fair use" is legal

Adi — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:10:00 +0000

A federal appeals court has just ruled that breaking through a digital security system to access software doesn't trigger the “anti-circumvention” provisions of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Any other interpretation of the DMCA, declared the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, would permit infringement liability for tapping into a work simply to “view it or to use it within the purview of 'fair use' permitted under the Copyright Act.” The ruling is already being hailed as another victory for fair use, following Monday's Library of Congress decision giving wide approval to iPhone jailbreaking and DVD CSS circumvention on similar grounds. Read the comments on this post

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Court: breaking DRM for a "fair use" is legal

Canada’s Copyright Reform Bill Posted Online

Zocor — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:51:04 +0000

Things have been developing in Canada fast and furious. The new copyright legislation (Bill C-32) has finally been posted online . We’ve already seen an early analysis on the copyright legislation earlier today thanks to Michael Geist in the media lock-up.

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Canada’s Copyright Reform Bill Posted Online

DMCA Muscle Kills DVD Copying, for Real

AgentSmith — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 20:21:39 +0000

Those awaiting a legitimate method to duplicate DVDs for personal use will likely have to wait even longer, perhaps forever, after RealNetworks tossed in the white towel and abandoned its litigation on the matter. RealNetworks spent almost two years in a legal battle with the Motion Picture Association of America, which sued the Seattle company to block the sale of its DVD-copying software and hardware –- generally known as RealDVD. The company said late Wednesday it’s dropping its appeal of an August federal court decision that declared RealDVD an illegal violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998.

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DMCA Muscle Kills DVD Copying, for Real

Judge: RealNetworks caused its own legal problems

Zocor — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 14:45:00 +0000

RealNetworks has suffered yet another a legal blow in its battle to bring its DVD ripping software to market, and according to the judge, it’s the company’s own fault.

Judge Bars Sale of RealDVD

Adi — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:43:13 +0000

Affirms MPAA assertion that making circumventing DVD encryption, even if only to make a backup copy, is a violation of the DMCA. The MPAA chalked up another win recently that affirms its position that making even “one copy” of a DVD is illegal. For this past Tuesday US District Court Judge Marilyn Patel ruled that RealNetworks RealDVD software makes a permanent copy of copyrighted DVDs and therefore is a violation of the DMCA , the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and a breach its CSS License Agreement with the DVD CCA, the group which controls DVD encryption for the MPAA.

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Judge Bars Sale of RealDVD

UK ISP Now Requires Court Order for Disconnection

Zocor — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:27:35 +0000

Karoo had been disconnecting file-sharers after one accusation by copyright holders. Late last month I reported how UK ISP Karoo had been been disconnecting BitTorrent users accused of copyright infringement after a single notification by copyright holders without offering customers a chance to dispute the allegations. The practice was revealed by several of its customer and led to a widespread backlash for it admittedly “exceeding the expectations of copyright owners.” Karoo is now backpedaling from that policy and will instead require that copyright holders obtain a court order to disconnect their customers from the Internet.

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UK ISP Now Requires Court Order for Disconnection

Finland Wants to Criminalize Talking About DRM Circumvention

Zocor — Sat, 01 Aug 2009 08:17:40 +0000

Is it criminal to even talk about CSS contained in a DVD? Apparently, with respect to circumvention, that’s what Finland wants to do through a controversial court case. As a result, the case is moving to the EU court of Human rights.

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Finland Wants to Criminalize Talking About DRM Circumvention

Lawyering in DVD Copying Case Billing up to $765 Hourly

Zocor — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:57:46 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — Hollywood studios are paying up to $765 an hour for attorneys litigating a lawsuit aimed at preventing RealNetworks from marketing software that allows movie fans to copy their DVDs, according to court documents. All told, legal fees in the nearly year-old case against the Seattle-based company are likely to total millions as Hollywood fights to retain its grip on the DVD and prevent companies from offering copying services. At a hearing in federal court here last month, more than two dozen lawyers from both sides filled the courtroom for days of testimony surrounding the RealDVD software, which U.S.

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Lawyering in DVD Copying Case Billing up to $765 Hourly

RealDVD Case: Home Copying Hangs in the Balance

AgentSmith — Thu, 21 May 2009 23:30:32 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO -– Six days of hearings spanning a month ended here Thursday with no decision on whether RealNetworks may resume marketing its DVD copying software. U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel is weighing the movie industry’s lawsuit against the Seattle-based company over its RealDVD software, which the judge ordered removed from the market last year pending the outcome of the case.

Real: studios, DVD-CCA "illegal cartel" squeeze out fair use

Adi — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:56:02 +0000

RealNetworks has filed legal counterclaims against the DVD Copy Control Association and all the major movie studios, claiming that the studios conspired to eliminate competition in the market for fair use copies of DVDs. The company says that the studios abused their power by refusing to grant licenses to Real unless the whole group was involved, and wants the court to force them to drop their lawsuit against Real. Real has been dealing with the legal fallout from his RealDVD software since September of 2008—before it was even released to the public.

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Real: studios, DVD-CCA "illegal cartel" squeeze out fair use

MPAA Pounds RealNetworks’ Glaser on Witness Stand — Update

Adi — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 21:05:40 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO – RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser, on the witness stand for the second day in a lawsuit challenging his DVD copying software, was hammered by the motion picture studios’ attorney questioning his earlier testimony. On Tuesday, Glaser testified that it would be “relatively easy” for the Hollywood studios to encrypt rental videos differently than those sold to consumers. Glaser uttered that proposal as a way to prevent consumers from copying rented DVDs with the RealDVD software product that is the subject of the lawsuit.

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MPAA Pounds RealNetworks’ Glaser on Witness Stand — Update

Glaser: RealDVD Not For Pirates

Adi — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 00:07:19 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser defended his DVD copying software product before a federal court here Tuesday, testifying that DRM controls on the $30 software make it virtually useless for pirates. “Our product is not designed for somebody who is willing to pirate,” Glaser told a packed federal courtroom during the second day of a legal challenge to the RealDVD software brought by the Hollywood studios. He said the RealDVD software, which U.S.

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Glaser: RealDVD Not For Pirates

Scientist Says DVD Copying Software Circumvents Encryption

Zocor — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 20:36:42 +0000

SAN FRANCISCO — A computer scientist testified in federal court here Tuesday that RealNetworks’ DVD copying software circumvents encryption technology, an assertion bolstering Hollywood’ claims that the product is illegal and a violation of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Witness Robert Schumann, who owns several encryption patents and testified on behalf of Hollywood’s successful lawsuit against DVD-encryption-busting company 321 Studios , said the RealDVD product circumvents at least two areas of the Content Scramble System designed to prevent DVD copying. The Motion Picture Association of America’s case against the RealDVD product weighs whether consumers have a right to duplicate their DVDs for personal use, as RealNetworks claims.

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Scientist Says DVD Copying Software Circumvents Encryption