Podmaxx DVD->iPod copying software may conflict with DMCA

February 12, 2006

Despite
several companies that made DVD backup/copy software facing legal issues for getting around a DVD's CSS copy protection, this has not stopped Bing Software from releasing Podmaxx, which claims to be able to transfer the contents of any DVD to an Apple Video iPod. The software can also convert QuickTime movies for transfer to an iPod or for iTunes compatibility.

While
iTunes already offers video downloads for the iPod such as TV episodes, music videos and so on, so far Apple does not offer any full length movies at this time. The marketing manager, Chris Kennedy at Bling also mentioned that there is no issue with the DRM aspects when it comes to transferring movies from DVDs to the iPod since it is designed for one's personal use and cannot be used for mass distribution.

According to an intellectual property attorney and a professor at North-western University Law School, they reckon that the software would be considered legal by the courts for personal use since they predict that the courts would find it acceptable that consumers can purchase a DVD to transfer to their iPod for their own personal use. Another thing the software allows is the ability to back up an iPod's contents, unlike iTunes where music can only be transferred to an iPod, but not vice versa.

Chris Kennedy, marketing manager at Bling, said there were no problems dealing with the digital rights management (DRM) aspects of transferring movies from DVDs. 'It's designed for your personal use," he said. 'It's not something that can be broken for mass distribution."

The Motion Picture Association of America, which has been aggressively pursuing anti-piracy efforts, had no immediate comment, nor did Apple. Apple is rumored to be developing a new video iPod that does not require a click wheel as well as a wireless iPod.

Mr. Kennedy said the video capability in his company's software was like blank tape. He pointed out that numerous DVD transfer software packages are widely available for sale.

'It's all been fully vetted in terms of the DRM rules," he said.

As this software claims to be able to transfer any DVD, it will be interesting to see how long they run before some legal issues takes place (assuming something does happen). For example, 321 studios was faced with lawsuits and lost their case for breaching the DMCA, even though they
claimed their software was strictly for personal use and backing up DVDs
only. So far, the majority of DVD backup and copying software either work
on unprotected DVDs or rely on a 3rd party tool to get around the Content Scrambling System copy protection used on most DVDs.

Feel free to discuss about DVD copying software on our Copy DVD Movie forum.

Source: Red Herring