Hollywood studios file lawsuit against RealNetworks

Major Hollywood studios filed yesterday a lawsuit in a Los Angeles court against RealNetworks, accusing the Internet media software maker of distributing a product that could be used to copy DVDs and store the contents on computers.

The software, called RealDVD, was introduced by RealNetworks earlier this month. The company, which also produces the popular on-line media player RealPlayer, said RealDVD could allow users to easily store movies in their computers, without cracking a DVD's protective encryption.

The lawsuit filed by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which represents major studios including Disney, Paramount and Sony Pictures, claims that the software violates the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and "illegally circumvents" copyright protections built into DVDs.

MPAA requested the court to issue a restraining order preventing RealNetworks from selling the software and demanded unspecified damages.

MPAA's move followed reports that Seattle-based RealNetworks planned to file its own lawsuit against the studios, seeking a clarification that its DVD-copying software complies with the law.

The movie industry's trade group earlier had successfully blocked the distribution of similar technologies that crack encryption codes in DVDs and could be used to make copies of movies.

"RealNetworks' RealDVD should be called StealDVD," MPAA's General Counsel Greg Goeckner said in a statement.

However, RealNetworks argued in a statement that its technology only allows users to store and play their own movies on their own computers, and "does not enable users to distribute copies of their DVDs."

But MPAA said the RealNetworks software would enable "massive theft" of creative content that would have direct, negative impact on the delivery of movies, television shows and other entertainment.