Distrib seeks DVD copying backup
Suit offers challenge to digital copyright act
In a complaint filed Tuesday in federal district court for the Northern District of California, 321 Studios, distributor of DVD Copy Plus, is seeking a declaratory judgment that consumers have a right to make backup copies of their own DVDs, and that the software for making those copies is protected by the First Amendment.
The suit names five major studios, along with producer Saul Zaentz and the Pixar Corp., as defendants. Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount are not among the named defendants.
Motion Picture Assn. of America officials declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The suit is the first such action to raise the question of whether consumers have a right to make backup copies of DVDs they own. It also offers a constitutional challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
Preemptive move
The suit was filed after newspaper reports last month said the MPAA had asked the FBI and the Dept. of Justice to investigate several Web sites that market software for copying DVDs.
"When the articles came out, it became clear to us that we had to do something," said Robert Moore, president and chief operating officer of 321 Studios. "Either we had to go out of business or stay in business and wait to be sued. Or we could take preemptive action."
DVD Copy Plus consists of software and detailed instructions for copying portions of a DVD onto a CD in the Video CD format, using a standard CD burner.
