EFF: Hollywood's RealDVD suit is a smokescreen

Posted by Greg Sandoval/CNET.com

Hollywood isn't suing RealNetworks over piracy--that's just a smokescreen, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

The group that advocates for the rights of Internet users said in a blog post Friday night that the the primary reason the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filed a copyright suit against RealNetworks and is trying to halt the sale of the RealDVD software is to make sure the company, and anyone else wishing to build movie players, gets Hollywood's permission first.

"It has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with controlling innovation," said Fred von Lohmann, EFF's senior attorney.
{snip}

Lawyers for the MPAA described the "rent, rip and return" scenario and told the judge this could cost the film industry billions. But in his post, von Lohmann points out what many others have already noted: there is software readily available on the Internet that copies and stores films on hard drives. Most of it is unencumbered with any of the copy protections found on RealDVD.

"Hollywood can't possibly believe that the $30, DRM-hobbled RealDVD software represents a piracy threat," von Lohmann wrote. The studios are using the lawsuit to "send a message about what happens to those who innovate without permission in a post-DMCA world."

The licensing agreements tech firms are required to sign before making movie players are a means of control, said von Lohmann. The licenses "define what the devices can and can't do thereby protecting Hollywood business models from disruptive innovation," he said.

Yep - DVDFab Platinum goes through just about any DRM like a rifle bullet through soft butter.

"By reading the existing CSS license carefully," von Lohmann wrote, "Real found a way to create a new product category without first getting permission from the Hollywood studios."
He suggests that Hollywood isn't against allowing people to back up their DVDs. He said we might see products that enable people to make copies. It's just that the studios want to share in the profits made by such products.

The full CNET story is here. Von Lohmann's full post is here.