San Francisco - Consumers suffered a setback to their digital rights today when a California federal court sided with the major motion picture studios in ruling that a company creating tools people can use to make backup copies of their DVDs is liable under copyright law. Citing the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), the court ordered 321 Studios, creator of DVD backup tools, to stop selling its DVD Copy Plus and DVD-X COPY products within seven days. 321 Studios is likely to appeal the ruling.
321 Studios' software has been tremendously popular, especially with parents who have learned through experience with their children that DVDs are much more fragile than VHS tapes. The court acknowledged that consumers are using the 321 Studios software to make backup copies of DVDs, to assist in viewing works in the public domain, and to make fair uses. In its ruling, the court did not recognize the damage to these legal uses, stating: "...the downstream uses of the software by the customers of 321, whether legal or illegal, are not relevant to determining whether 321 itself is violating the statute."
"In passing the DMCA, Congress certainly did not intend to eliminate all consumer copying," said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "This court's reading of the statute in the 321 Studios case allows a ban on any tool that enables consumers to copy their DVDs."
"The great popularity of 321 Studios' products demonstrates a legitimate consumer desire to use DVDs with the same rights they have had with earlier technologies," added EFF Senior Intellectual Property Attorney Fred von Lohmann. "The court decision in the 321 Studios case underscores the need for DMCA reform as proposed in the Boucher-Doolittle and Lofgren bills."
Cindy Cohn
Legal Director
Electronic Frontier Foundation
cindy@eff.org
Fred von Lohmann
Senior Intellectual Property Attorney
Electronic Frontier Foundation
fred@eff.org
The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil liberties organization working to protect rights in the digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and challenges industry and government to support free expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported organization and maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world at http://www.eff.org/
321 Studios provides software tools to help consumers protect their investment in digital media, and is the leading provider of DVD backup, recovery and creation software. Founded in 2001, 321 Studios offers a wide range of titles including the phenomenally successful DVD Movie backup titles DVD Copy Plus, DVD X Copy XPRESS, DVD X Copy GOLD, among others. With the success of its DVD software, 321 Studios has become one of the fastest growing software companies in the world. The company is privately headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, with distributors and sales offices throughout Asia-Pacific, Europe and the United States. For more information, please visit http://www.321studios.com/ http://www.dvdxcopy.com/
