DVD copier and MPAA fight in court

THE BATTLE LINES were drawn last year and now the arena is shifting into a US District Court. 321 Studios wrote a piece of software designed to copy DVDs. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) leapt into legal action to prevent the software ever reaching consumers.

At the heart of the battle are two questions. Is the software a legitimate tool for creating backups or simply a piracy aid? And are end users allowed to make copies of entire DVDs as part of the 'fair use' rules? The court will be trying to give definitive answers to those questions.

321 is claiming that their software is legal. The software removes the copy protection from a DVD before copying it. That would appear to be illegal according to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). But the firm claims that several 'fair use' verdicts in court should take precedence.

Meanwhile, the MPAA takes a quite different view. It says that users are not allowed to make copies of DVDs and that it doesn't matter whether they are just backups or not. It says that any software designed to copy DVDs is infringing copyrights.

321 is playing towards the traditional 'fair use' arguments and the firm is likely to cite several cases where the maker of the tool was not responsible for it being used illegally. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has joined in on 321's side. It says that the courts should protect these copying technologies as 'fair use' is enshrined within copyright law.

But that argument may not hold much water; newer legislation usually takes precedence.

The MPAA is likely to argue that the balance of copyright and 'fair use' has shifted well away from the original intention of the laws. It is also likely to push hard on the DMCA anti-copy protection cracking provisions. 321's software is, after all, exactly the kind of thing the act was supposed to protect against.

Both sides have good arguments. It will be interesting to see which way the decision goes. µ