Rob Glaser Talks About Steal–Oops–RealDVD
by Kara Swisher
Posted on October 2, 2008 at 12:12 PM PT
When he debuted his company’s new DVD copier at DEMOfall recently, called RealDVD, RealNetworks’ Rob Glaser did a video interview with BoomTown about it.
And now that RealNetworks (RNWK) and Hollywood are cross-suing each other over RealDVD–in the latest clash over the still-contentious copyright issue that separates the tech and entertainment industries–it’s time for a replay!
The RealDVD software allows a user to rip all the parts of a DVD, including cover art, onto a computer. It costs about $30.
Hollywood studios, which filed a lawsuit in federal court Tuesday, maintain that RealDVD is illegal, and one of their reps called it “StealDVD.”
Haw, haw. This is what apparently passes for clever in Hollywood these days.
But before the entertainment giants’ lawsuit, RealNetworks filed its own suit, claiming it was protecting the fair-use rights of consumers to make copies of content they had purchased.
To avoid violating digital rights management schemes, RealDVD has added its own DRM layer, preventing ripped DVDs from being copied and shared and imposing further barriers to piracy.
But there are still possibilities for illegal ripping, of course, because RealDVD users must promise not to copy videos they don’t own.
No surprise–an honor-system product that makes it even easier to copy DVDs was not exactly welcome by Hollywood, which has been trying to protect its movie revenues from suffering the same fate as the music industry via rampant CD-ripping.
Thus, the typical mainstream media reaction to the inevitability of consumers wanting to digitize content: More lawsuits!
In any case, here’s the video of Glaser talking about RealDVD:
Comments
I don’t see the difference, fundamentally, between the premise of RealDVD and iTunes.. one you “rent, rip & return” and the other you “borrow, rip & return”.. the onus is on the user to behave and understand the implications of ripping off artists… it’s no more the fault of Real than it is Apple’s concern whether i borrow my friend’s CD and rip it to my iTunes.
Posted by Ted Witus at October 2nd, 2008 at 1:39 pmI keep seeing mentions of how RealDVD has added its own DRM layer, as if this is somehow supposed to make the initial CSS circumvention okay.I can’t “borrow” your car at will and then justify it by filling up the tank (although that would be generous given the cost of gas now). No, the key issue here is that the copyright owner has to be consulted first. And copyright owners are acting on this demand, having recently put together the DECE consortium to develop “buy once, play anywhere” services.
Posted by Patrick Ross at October 3rd, 2008 at 5:28 pm