UK movie biz strikes again at DVD copying software maker 321 Studios

December 16, 2003

GristyMcFisty used our news submit to tell us that the movie industry of the United Kingdom has filed a new high court lawsuit. The industry hopes to ban DVDxCopy from the stores as it circumvents the DVD copy protection and therefor allows users to make copies of their movies. The UK has very strict copyright laws and with two suits coming up 321 Studios is fighting a tough legal battle.

WHV took on 321's UK division last summer with a Motion Picture Ass. of America (MPAA)-backed lawsuit alleging that DVD X Copy was in violation of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988. This law forbids the duplication of copyright material without the permission of the copyright holder. Unlike US copyright legislation, UK law regards even copies made for personal use as unlawful. Tape a CD you legally own so you can play it in the car, or burn that CD to MP3 and transfer it to your iPod and, here in the UK, you're breaking the law. Fair use provision does not extend to these actions, unenforceable though this aspect of the CDPA is.

Crucially, that restriction does not extend to systems that make such illegal actions possible, which is why Sony and Amstrad defeated Universal's attempts to block the sale of video recorders and tape-to-tape cassette decks, respectively, in the 1980s. So 321 can argue that its products are legal under the CDPA. Hence the new suit, which challenges the software developer under the new Copyright and Related Rights Regulations 2003, which became law on 31 October.