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Judge Opens Hearing On RealDVD Legal Battle

Posted by Soulskill on from the pondering-pirate-bay-precedent dept.

FP writes "On Friday morning, lawyers urged a federal judge to bar RealNetworks from selling software that allows consumers to copy their DVDs to computer hard drives, arguing that the Seattle-based company's product is an illegal pirating tool. RealNetworks' lawyers countered later in the morning that its RealDVD product is equipped with piracy protections that limits a DVD owner to making a single copy and is a legitimate way to back up copies of movies legally purchased. This legal battle began with a restraining order last October which stopped the sale of RealDVD. More coverage is available at NPR. The same judge who shut down Napster is presiding over the three-day trial." Reader IonOtter points out that later in the day, Judge Patel sealed the court after DVD Copy Control Association lawyers "argued that public testimony of aspects of the CSS copy-control technology would violate trade secrets."

8 of 164 comments (clear)

  1. sign of the apocalypse... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can count how many times I've rooted for Real on a one-bit integer. Yesterday, I didn't even need that.

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    THL phish sticks
    1. Re:sign of the apocalypse... by wowbagger · · Score: 4, Funny

      "I can count how many times I've rooted for Real on a one-bit integer. "

      Signed, or unsigned?

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      www.eFax.com are spammers
    2. Re:sign of the apocalypse... by gandhi_2 · · Score: 3, Funny

      I guess I should have known better to say that here. A one-bit unsigned, 2's complement integer as represented in Big Endian bit order.

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      THL phish sticks
    3. Re:sign of the apocalypse... by Azh+Nazg · · Score: 2, Funny

      Except that twos complement is meaningless with unsigned integers, and big endian and little endian are exactly the same. ;)

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    4. Re:sign of the apocalypse... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      The woosh is on your moron

      See, this is one reason why I read Slashdot. :->

  2. Is CSS even a secret any more? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Yeah, it would really be terrible if de-CSS code were included in court filings, now, wouldn't it? I just have to wonder: doesn't a trade secret have to be secret? Or are they hiding something else these days?

  3. Re:Betamax Redux by Jerry · · Score: 3, Funny

    Nothing is different. The corporations own the courts which enforce the laws they bribed Congress to get passed.

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    Running with Linux for over 20 years!

  4. First Sale by Amazing+Quantum+Man · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'd love to see Real point out the First Sale. The customer bought it, they can fold, spindle or mutilate it.

    If the studios claim it's licensed, point out the ads that say "Buy it today!" or "Own it today!"

    --
    Fascism starts when the efficiency of the government becomes more important than the rights of the people.