U.S. Court Rules Consumers Never Have the Right to Copy DVD Movies

http://www.dailytech.com/US+Court+Rules+Consumers+Never+Have...

The suit filed against RealNetworks centered around the company's RealDVD software, which ripped through protection technology to allow users to make digital copies of their legally-owned content.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed suit against the company over alleged violations of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)....The MPAA's assertion was simple -- consumers do not have the right to copy DVD movies -- ever.

In the end U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Patel ruled against RealNetworks, ordering it to stop selling software. Wrote Judge Patel in the decision, "RealDVD makes a permanent copy of copyrighted DVD content and by doing so breaches its (Content Scramble System) License Agreement with the (DVD Copy Control Association, the group that oversees the protection of DVDs for the major Hollywood studios) and circumvents a technological measure that effectively controls access to or copying of the Studios' copyrighted content on DVDs."

The case represents a landmark, precedent-setting ruling in terms of fair use. It sets the precedent that not only declares that media-copying software which circumvents copy-protection technologies is illegal, but also adds legal credence to the MPAA and RIAA's argument that consumers making copies of legally purchased DVDs and CDs is a crime.
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You've been warned.

--fleg