Over the last few years if has become very popular to store all digital media on the harddrive and even if copying DVDs has been available for many years, few commercial companies have offered this function to people who want to make backups or simply store the movies on harddrives. With the everdropping harddrive price and with capacities up to 1.5TB in a single 3.5" harddrive, the interest for DVD copying has steadily increased, which has also benefited the NAS and Home Server market.
RealNetworks thought it would be a good idea to release an application that enabled users to make backups of their DVD movies through just a few clicks. It didn't take long after the launch of RealDVD before the first letter arrived. Six of the largest movie studios in Hollywood sued RealNetworks. They say that RealDVD is breaking the law when they bypass the copy protection of the DVDs and that the new program would enable consumers to rent, rip and return, or simply copy their friends DVD collection.
From the article:
"Real has said the software enables DVDs to be copied onto up to five computers — with the purchase of up to four extra program licenses for $20 each — and does not alter the discs' encryption technology meant to prevent wide-scale piracy."
"The software locks the copy to the hard drive where it is copied and to the program it was copied with, Kimball said, and he asserted that copying one's personal collection of DVDs amounts to "fair use" allowed by law."
RealNetworks was contacted by the studios before the launch of the program and was asked not to go through with it. After Media Center manufacturer Kaleidescape was acquitted in a similar case, RealNetworks decided to go for it anyway.
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