Story here that copying DVDs for personal backup may be legal under
'fair use', if it uses a method which dodges the DMCA.
A court in California will this month rule on the legality of an
ingenious new software package that makes perfect copies of movies on
DVDs even if they are protected with the latest anti-copying
technology.
The software has been developed by 321 Studios of St Louis, Missouri.
The company says its DVDXcopy program does not violate the 1998 Digital
Millennium Copyright Act, which makes it illegal to defeat
copy-protection schemes.
According to 321, the software is legitimate because it does not do
anything that the DVD's copy protection is designed to prevent.
DVDXcopy works by intercepting the digital video code just after it has
been legitimately unscrambled by the DVD player, but just before the
unscrambled code is converted into a protected analogue TV signal. It
then saves the unscrambled video on the PC's hard drive before copying
it onto a blank DVD.
The copied discs play perfectly. It is even possible to copy the copy
back to a hard drive, and then onto another blank DVD.
Part of 321's case is that its product reinstates the right of
consumers to back up their discs. The argument dates back to the taping
of records in the 1970s, but few in the entertainment industry accept
its validity.
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