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Frenchies dump DVD DRM

Private folk should be allowed to copy their DVDs
By Paul Hales
Mon Apr 25 2005, 21:28
FRENCH LEGISLATORS ruled that anti-copying digital rights management software on DVDs should be banned because it prevents a user making copies for private use.

A Parisian court of appeal on Friday threw out a complaint from Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal and sided with consumer's body, the Union Fédérale des Consommateurs (UFC).

The case revolved around a bloke who wanted to watch the film Mulholland Drive round his mum's house. Our hero had the film on DVD but his dear old mum had stuck with the video recorder. The court decided the man was within his rights to expect to be able to copy the film from his DVD and stick on a video cassette so that he could watch it.

The organisiations representing the film companies, Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal have a month to 'déverrouiller' their DVDs, which we guess means dump the DRM and allow anyone to copy the films willy-nilly.

The court also decided that the 'CP' labelling on the disk, meant to designate 'copy protected' was too small to be useful. µ

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