Petteri Pyyny
4 Mar 2004 13:00
321 Studios lost its second court ruling within 13 days today. Company previously lost the first round of its Californian lawsuit on 20th of February when court ordered company to stop selling products that contained a code that allowed circumventing the copy protection found on DVD-Video discs, called CSS.
Today, the New York federal judge Richard Owen decided that 321 Studios' products violate the DMCA legislation by allowing circumvention of CSS copy protection mechanism. The decision was basically identical to the one that San Fransisco court ordered on 20th -- company has pulled out all the ripper-equipped versions of its DVD X Copy software and replaced them with similar tools that only lack the "ripper" part.
321 Studios has already announced that it disagrees with the New York ruling (as well as the previous San Fransisco ruling) and will appeal both cases. 321 Studios bases their court process on the fact that American copyright legislation allows consumers to back up material that they own -- but by copy protecting that material and making it illegal to distribute tools that allow circumventing the copy protection, that right has been effectively removed even that it is still stated in copyright legislation as the "fair use" right.
Both lawsuits against the 321 Studios were brought up by various movie studios. The studios behind the New York case are Paramount Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Film.
More information:
321 Studios press release
News.com