back to article Real Networks rolls over to Hollywood

RealNetworks has agreed to destroy all traces of its short-lived DVD-duplicating software, RealDVD, to appease the Hollywood heads that brought legal action against it. As part of a settlement filed Wednesday in a California court, the company will also cough up $4.5m in legal fees to the six movie studios, Viacom, and the DVD …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Big Brother

    Patel again!!!

    I started to write a long tirade.... but gave up and deleted it. I simply can't express in words my disgust at the publishing industries continued futile efforts to make their customer's user experience such crappy one.

    Ohh well, another reason to simply use the totally free, totally DRM free solutions to this problem that the publishing industry is forcing down our throats.

  2. Neal 5

    Good, about time too

    Theres far too much of this going on, now we shall surely see a dramatic reduction of the amount of pirated copies of films available to the public through P2P.

    Except of course nearly 100% of pirate films are ripped straight out of the cinemas and are rarely in RealMedia format. And the older releases are ripped using not RealMedia technology anyway.

    Killing the Dodo really,AGAIN. Bravo to Big Business, another major success.

  3. Ceiling Cat

    They should . . .

    Leak the full source.

    Let the freetards have a go at maintaining the package on their own.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    This is so stupid.

    Leaving aside whether or not RealDVD actually cracked or circumvented encryption (although my understanding is that it really didn't), there is a positive host of rippers out there, free, of high quality, and in fact capable of doing a lot more than RealDVD ever did.

    The studios are once more demonstrating their stunning ability to point high powered weaponry at their feet and set it on auto.

    "There's something on the market which is a little annoying! Let's drive the public to something positively lethal to us! Drinks are on me!"

    Even assuming the Hollywood Harebrains aren't quite that stupid, this doesn't solve any problems which they really had. Regardless of what you think about the concept of intellectual property, and whether or not the DMCA was a good idea, all their wishful thinking won't change the fact that a very substantial proportion of the modern, internet-savvy youth have very little hesitation about ripping and copying music, video, and full-sensorium porn. Any public policy (or public relations) which doesn't take that into account is doomed to ultimate oblivion.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Thumb Down

    This post has been deleted by a moderator

    shhhhhhh. we have settled but we aren't allowed to talk about it.

    The software was rubbish anyway. Freeware 'shirking' solutions work much better.

    anon... because we aren't allowed to talk about it

  6. Richard Jones 1

    Dodging DVD Content Crap

    Oh dear I bypass the DVD content protection rubbish, I simply do not buy or watch the trash from the studios.

  7. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    not at all biased

    But US district judge Marilyn Patel dismissed Real's antitrust claims, ruling that any financial injury suffered from the injunction was due to "its own decision to manufacture and traffic in a device that is almost certainly illegal under the DMCA."

    Good to know the judge didn't approach the case with any preconceived outcome. What a joke.

  8. Individual #6/42
    FAIL

    Bad law drive out good?

    Yup it was illegal. However the DCMA is an awful piece of legilstation that works against the interests of content producers and consumers..

  9. MJI Silver badge
    WTF?

    Copying DVDs

    There are loads of reasons* to copy them, and this seemed like a publisher friendly way of doing it.

    So the people who want to copy will have to use less publisher friendly ways of doing this.

    * Scratched disc, copy for children to use, or the favourite, remove all the anti piracy messages and forced trailers which make watching a recent commercial DVD so painfull.

  10. Dan 55 Silver badge
    WTF?

    Don't get it

    Real bought a CSS licence, they didn't use decss. They also generated the backup with CSS.

    I suppose people will carry on doing what they've always done, rip it themselves anyway.

    Just imagine, Hollywood could have moved with the times a little bit.

  11. hahnchen
    FAIL

    I too wish to register my disgust

    You can no longer legally make back ups of media that you own, because DMCA means a corporation's rights trump consumer rights.

    They should have open sourced this as soon as they saw litigation coming.

  12. mark l 2 Silver badge
    FAIL

    DVD Jon

    I can't see that real would have sold many copies of this software anyway DVD encryption has been wide open for years and there is so much free ripping software around its the metaphore of closing the barn door once the horse has bolted.

    Why they even bother putting the CSS encryption on the disk anymore is beyond me as even someone who has never tried to copy a DVD before could work out how to rip it with a quick search on google (other search engines are available)

  13. Matthew 3
    FAIL

    And what do they think our reaction will be?

    If it's anything like mine, it'll be 'where can I get a copy of this software before it disappears for ever?'.

    Funny that I wasn't even aware of it before this article brought it to my attention - but now I'll be looking for a copy.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Real Who ?

    DVDCSS was cracked years ago, yawn.

  15. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iTunes next

    Presumably iTunes and other rippers will be next, since they also format shift.

    I think at this point, Mandy's bill needs fair use written into it, otherwise we're in danger of criminalizing every iPod user and every kid with an MP3 plater and every person with a movie rip on their laptop.

    Or does Mandy hate Britains? Surely he would legalize something the majority of Brits believe to be legal?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Big Brother

      Already illegal in the IK

      This is already illegal in the UK, although I am not sure if it is a civil or a criminal offence.

  16. lukewarmdog
    Megaphone

    No sympathy

    For Real as they are numpties. I don't bother ripping movies anymore, if I want a backup copy I'll just download one. Score none for Hollywood.

  17. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is getting bad..

    ... but if the DMCA says that buyers can create copies of DVD's for backup purposes, wouldnt the developers of such DVD's be themselves breaking DMCA by putting in blocks that prevent the home user from doing so?

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Alert

      That is the problem though!!!

      This is fundamentally the issue though, in the US at least.

      In the US we have fair use, but there is too much money flying around Washington, such that big business gets to make up its own laws which trump those already in place.

      We have 2 laws which contradict each other and big business has more clout (read $$$) than anyone wanting to defend the principle of fair use.

      In the UK, there isn't even a fair use clause. I was born in the UK and lived there for 25 years and when I was a kid I had 100s of 'illegal' tapes. When I got money I bought hundreds of CDs. At the time I was able to do whatever I wanted with my music. Car, office, computer, anywhere with no hassle. Today I will not buy a single DRM piece of music, e-book, movie download. I but DVDs but immediately transfer them to my Popcorn Hour. I want to pay, then watch, but under my conditions, not the movie industries crippled environment.

      Someone previously mentioned the stupid playback controls on DVDs. I don't read the English FBI warning. Why the hell should I be forced to watch it in French, Portuguese, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, Swedish, brail etc... Then the trailers...

      I used to copy DVD purely and simply so I didn't have to watch all this crap every time I put the darned disc in.

      Sorry... on a rant there a little...

      The premis that a law is there to impose the will of the people, and to protect the will of the people is no longer applicable.

      Politicians are no longer servants of the people, but of the mighty $$$

  18. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    MPAA is good and altruistic

    We just don't understand. They protect us from software like RealDVD - you see, it kept the CSS and did not let you make copies of the discs but rather sat on them and dished them out to you in a controlled fashion. That's bad.

    Much better to use freely available and free software that would strip CSS (and PUOPs and correct any specs violations dreamed up by Macrovision) completely and will let you make as many copies as you like. So MPAA stops the bad commercial software in order that we all could continue to use good freeware software. Peace be upon them. Amen.

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