Open Source Developer Tests DVD Copyright Laws

gnat on 2002-04-25T17:11:31

In a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, 321 Studios of St. Louis wants a judge to declare that its product, DVD Copy Plus, does not violate copyright laws.
"It's a critical issue in this digital age," said 321 President Robert Moore, who started the company in July as a hobby. "Someone's got to stand up and say it's wrong when you can't make a copy of something you own."
The program, based on controversial open-source code that descrambles DVD encryption, is designed to let users make a backup copy of a DVD movie. The suit argues that copyright laws allow such copying for personal use.
Moore, a veteran software developer, has sold 75,000 copies of DVD Copy Plus over the Internet. The firm has 32 employees and has opened offices in three cities, including Berkeley, with hopes of expanding into retail stores.

--Nat

Buddy tried it

gizmo_mathboy on 2002-04-25T18:38:46

I emailed one of my buddies about this software. He tried it and was sort of impressed. Basically it was a HOWTO for using the freeware that is available.

Apparently the freeware that DVD Copy Plus "uses" have non-intuitive instructions and interface. The DVD Copy Plus Software just gives help, support, screenshots, and the like to make it easier to copy your DVD into VCD format.

My buddy decided that it really wasn't worth it for the US$40 to buy it (which he did).

I hope they win their case but too bad they have to resort to spam (I've probably received 3 emails about this product in the last 2 days) to sell their product. Oh well.