Are we free to copy DVDs?

Software that allows consumers to make backup copies of their

DVDs has raised the ire of Hollywood studios, which claim

it’s nothing more than a tool for piracy.

The looming court battle between software-maker 321 Studios and

seven entertainment companies, to be heard later this month in San

Francisco, is more than just another chapter in the seemingly

endless legal wrangling between Hollywood and technologists.

It could further define consumer rights in the digital age.

321 Studios and technology activists say the lawsuit –

which the software maker defensively initiated last April –

could establish the right of consumers to make personal copies of

DVD movies they legitimately own, just as they do now with music

CDs or computer software.

The studios say that’s just a pretext to gain legitimacy

for a $100 software product whose real value lies in cracking the

copy protection on DVDs to make flawless bootlegs.

Attorneys for 321 Studios argue that the St. Louis

company’s products, “DVD Copy Plus” and

“DVD X Copy” (www.321studios.com), say the software has

perfectly legitimate uses.

DVDs are fragile objects that can be rendered unplayable by

scratches and cracks. Consumers have a legitimate need to make

backup copies of their DVDs, 321 Studios argues.

DVD X Copy is intended for these users – and others who

offered sworn legal statements in the case.

“This isn’t about circumventing an access control

mechanism. This is about whether you, in the privacy of your own

home, can do what you want with what you already own,” said

Elizabeth Sedlock, 321 Studios chief marketing officer.

“I can buy Picasso today, cut it to ribbons and paint all

over it … There’s nothing that I own that I cannot do

anything I want with, except a DVD.”

321 Studios argues its DVD copying software is impractical as

piracy tool. It takes four to six hours to reproduce a disc –

making it unwieldy for mass-producing bootleg copies.

Users also need a computer with a DVD recording drive, which are

still relatively rare.

Indeed, the latest version of the software, DVD X Copy, includes

anti-piracy measures. Once the user creates a backup copy of a

movie with DVD X Copy, the software erases the unencrypted version

from the computer’s hard drive.

It stamps an FBI-styled disclaimer onto each copied disc that

warns against its resale. And it inserts a digital flag onto each

backup DVD to prevent the user from making copies of copies.

321 Studios says it uses watermark technology to embed each disc

with the user’s registration information, making it possible

to identify those who misuse the software.

Attorneys for the movie studios called these copy protections

flimsy at best.

Any person with the slightest technological savvy can move the

unprotected copy of the movie from their computer’s

“temporary” folder into another folder, where it can be

uploaded to the Internet.

And the watermarking and digital signatures only work when DVD

copies are created using the 321 Studios’ software.

These mechanisms don’t apply if the user makes discs on

any other DVD-authoring software. And none of these safeguards are

offered on 321 Studio’s original product, DVD Copy Plus.

“The only thing left to do is press the button and say,

‘distribute,’” said Steven B. Fabrizio a Los

Angeles attorney representing the studios.

Fabrizio says 321 Studios’ anti-piracy efforts are a

distraction from the central issue of the case: whether consumers

can legally copy DVDs.

Most consumers seem willing to accept Hollywood’s terms of

use – that they can enjoy the benefit of watching the film in

crisp digital clarity, anytime, on any DVD player. They don’t

get reproduction rights.

All DVD movies are protected by a technology known as

“Content Scramble System,” or CSS, which garbles the

data in every video frame.

The movie can only be viewed on licensed DVD players that

contain a software key to unlock the encrypted film so it can be

viewed.

Hollywood argues that 321 Studios’ software amounts to a

high-tech lock pick. It skirts DVD access controls by capturing the

video stream after a movie has been unscrambled.

And that, the studios argue, violates the Digital Millennium

Copyright Act of 1998, which makes it a federal offense to market

traffic in any technology designed to circumvent copy-protection

systems like CSS.

321 Studios claims it does not circumvent CSS. Rather, it uses

commercially licensed DVD player software on the user’s

computer to unlock the movie, and then captures and digitizes the

video output.

In that respect, it’s no different from any other DVD

player or cable television set-top box.

If Hollywood succeeds in removing 321 Studios’ products

from the market, it will have little impact on movie piracy, said

Fred von Lohmann, senior intellectual property attorney for the

Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco advocacy group that

filed legal briefs on 321 Studios’ behalf.

“If you are intent on making copies of your DVDs to

distribute them to the world – that continues to be easy to

do. There are plenty of free tools out there to allow you to rip

things onto your computer,” von Lohmann said.

“The only person this hurts is the consumer who wants to

do what they’ve always been able to do with their

media.”

Dawn C. Chmielewski, Knight Ridder Newspapers

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