Media Money
- Facebook's Biggest-Ever Holiday Shopping Season
- Facebook's New Dual Class Structure - Slow Steps to an IPO
- Can Murdoch Help Bing Challenge Google and Shift the Content Equation?
- Twilight, Inc., A Worldwide Craze
- Oprah to Leave Syndication in 2011
- Sony's E-Reader Shortage and the Digital Book Battle
- Salesforce.com Brings Facebook and Twitter's Social Capabilities to Businesses
- Sumner Redstone's Companies Face Off Yet Again
- Can YouTube Revolutionize Citizen Journalism?
- What MGM's Sale Could Say About Value of Content
RSS FEED
MOST SHARED
- Kuoni CEO Sees Recovery in Travel Sector
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- Gold Retreats from Record High as Dollar Rebounds
- China Unveils Carbon Target Ahead of Copenhagen
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff On Worries About Dubai's Debt
- Euro Shares Record Biggest Drop in 7 Months
- Great Britain, No Longer That Great: Investor
- Hyundai-Kia Targets Rapid China Growth in 2010
- Chinese Overcapacity is Worsening, EU Chamber Warns
- 4 Thanksgiving Week Buys For Your Portfolio: Market Pros
- There's a 'Great Chance' For a Double-Dip Recession: Strategist
- Revenge of the Gangsta Nerds
- Will TCU See The "Flutie Effect?"
- Retail Earnings and Sales to Improve in Q4: Analyst
- Consumers Catching the Holiday Spirit
- It's Beginning To Look A Lot More Riskless
- Crescenzi: Claims Level Suggests End to Job Losses
- Hedge Funds Take Early Lead in Warren Buffett's 'Big Bet'
- US Markets Bracing for Selloff on Dubai Debt Worries
- Dubai Struggles to Ease Debt Fears; Investors Rattled
- US Dollar Falls to 14-Year Low Against the Yen
- UK's Darling to Downgrade 2009 Growth Forecast
- US Companies Already Moving on Curbing Emissions
- Fannie Mae to Tighten Lending Standards: Report
- Investing in Good Karma – and Making a Profit
- Retailers Should Believe in Christmas Miracles
- Bankruptcies Jump, Hitting Highest Level in Four Years
Text Size 
Correspondent
 |
RealNetworks |
The MPAA is celebrating and RealNetworks [RNWK
Loading...
()
] is trying to figure out what to do next. The major studios, including Disney [DIS
Loading...
()
], Sony Pictures Entertainment [SNE
Loading...
()
], and Universal Studios [GE
Loading...
()
], teamed up to sue RealNetworks last year, arguing its new RealDVD software enables illegal pirating. Dan Glickman, the MPAA chief says that this ruling affirms that the company took a license for a DVD player and instead built a DVD copier. You can bet the studios hope this will serve as a warning to any companies working on similar products.
With the studios home video revenue in decline, they need to do whatever it takes to protect that crucial chunk of profits. RealNetworks argued that its product allowed consumers to legally convert their DVDs to digital files to store and view on their own computers. The real risk is that consumers would "rent, rip, and return" DVDs. the U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel acknowledged that consumers have the right to make backup copies of DVDs for their own personal use. The problem here is that there's nothing preventing consumers from also making illegal copies.
Here's RealNetworks official response:
“We are disappointed that a preliminary injunction has been placed on the sale of RealDVD. We have just received the Judge's detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we'll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time.”
This hardly means the studios can breathe a sigh of relief. Of course they're still contending with illegal piracy, which is a huge and growing problem, especially overseas. And now Universal and 20th Century Fox [NWS
Loading...
()
] are battling with RedBox over the rights to rent their DVDs for $1 a night. More on that in the next blog.
Questions? Comments?
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes