DVD Copy Control licence so badly written it's invalid

US LAWYERS HAVE SCREWED UP the licensing specifications designed to protect movies from being copied, reports EETimes. A California court ruled yesterday that a Silicon Valley company isn't violating the technology used to protect DVDs because the licence and specifications for the technology are so badly written.

The judge found against the DVD Copy Control Association (CCA) which was attempting to stop startup company Kaleidescape from selling a media server product that stores DVD movies on disk. He ruled that an entire section of the CCA's specification for the Content Scramble System was not part of the licence agreement.

"This is a product of a committee of lawyers," said the judge.

The CCA believed its licence stated that a movie could only be stored on disk if the DVD remained in the player and that if this were not the case, there would be nothing to stop borrowed DVDs from being illegally copied. Unfortunately for them, the judge thought otherwise. µ

L'Inq
EETimes