US court rulings have pulled the most popular software for copying DVD movies off the market, but a new program, already on sale at CompUSA and Wal-Mart is trying to get around these rulings and still let users duplicate copy-protected discs.
The new software, called 123 Copy DVD, sells for as little as US$19.99. Out of the box, it won't copy the vast majority of commercial DVDs, which are protected by encryption. However, the manufacturer, also called 123 Copy DVD, has a Web site with a link to another site that contains a piece of decryption software. Users can easily download that patch, which allows the program to copy any disc.
Steve Thomas, vice president of the manufacturer, said that the site with the decryption software is unaffiliated with 123 Copy DVD.
But that claim is contradicted by Web site registration records, which show that both 123 Copy DVD's site and the site with the patch are owned by the same company, Bling Software Ltd, which has a Gibraltar mailing address.
Reached later, Thomas said he had been unaware that Bling Soft-ware owned the site with the patch. He identified Bling Software as 123 Copy DVD's parent company.
Federal judges in March ordered another company, 321 Studios Inc, to stop marketing its best-selling DVD-copying software. That was a victory for Hollywood studios, which contended that DVD-copying products violate the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. That law bars circumvention of anti-piracy measures used to protect DVDs and other technology.
Since those rulings, 321 Studios has shipped retooled versions of its DVD-copying products, removing the software component required to descramble movies.
Thomas said that because 123 Copy DVD does not ship with decryption software, it does not violate the law.
"Our position is that it complies with the Millennium Copyright Act," he said.
Linking to the patch doesn't make much of a difference, he contended, since decryption software is widely available on the Internet.
Bruce Sunstein, an intellectual-property lawyer for Bromberg & Sunstein, a Boston-based law firm, said that even if the Web site with the patch were not affiliated with 123 Copy DVD, the manufacturer is on very shaky legal ground by providing a link to it.
"If you aid somebody in circumventing copyright protection, then you've done the bad thing," Sunstein said. "I don't see it as a particularly good defense."
In a written statement, John Malcolm, the anti-piracy director at the Motion Picture Association of America noted that every maker of DVD-copying software has claimed that its product was legal.
"We have now sued over a dozen persons/companies offering these packages and in every instance, every court has deemed the product to be illegal," he wrote.
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
A car bomb killed a senior Russian general in southern Moscow yesterday morning, the latest high-profile army figure to be blown up in a blast that came just hours after Russian and Ukrainian delegates held separate talks in Miami on a plan to end the war. Kyiv has not commented on the incident, but Russian investigators said they were probing whether the blast was “linked” to “Ukrainian special forces.” The attack was similar to other assassinations of generals and pro-war figures that have either been claimed, or are widely believed to have been orchestrated, by Ukraine. Russian Lieutenant General Fanil Sarvarov, 56, head
SAFETY FIRST: Double the number of police were deployed at the Taipei Marathon, while other cities released plans to bolster public event safety Authorities across Taiwan have stepped up security measures ahead of Christmas and New Year events, following a knife and smoke bomb attack in Taipei on Friday that left four people dead and 11 injured. In a bid to prevent potential copycat incidents, police deployments have been expanded for large gatherings, transport hubs, and other crowded public spaces, according to official statements from police and city authorities. Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said the city has “comprehensively raised security readiness” in crowded areas, increased police deployments with armed officers, and intensified patrols during weekends and nighttime hours. For large-scale events, security checkpoints and explosives
PUBLIC SAFETY: The premier said that security would be tightened in transport hubs, while President Lai commended the public for their bravery The government is to deploy more police, including rapid response units, in crowded public areas to ensure a swift response to any threats, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday after a knife attack killed three people and injured 11 in Taipei the previous day. Lai made the remarks following a briefing by the National Police Agency on the progress of the investigation, saying that the attack underscored the importance of cooperation in public security between the central and local governments. The attack unfolded in the early evening on Friday around Taipei Main Station’s M7 exit and later near the Taipei MRT’s Zhongshan
RSS