About DVD Copyright Infringement Laws
The right to make a duplicate of a copy-protected DVD for personal use has long been the subject of debate and litigation, but is prohibited -- except for certain educational or security uses -- by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998. This landmark federal law, enacted while DVD technology was in its infancy, makes it a crime to circumvent the copy protection software on most commercial DVDs. Movie studios have defeated multiple legal challenges to this law.
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Background
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The growth of the Internet and digital media in the late 1990s created the potential for large-scale copying and distribution of digital materials. To prohibit digital piracy, the U.S. signed two treaties developed by the World Intellectual Property Association: the Copyright Treaty and the Performances and Phonograms Treaty. To implement these treaties, Congress enacted -- and President Bill Clinton signed -- the DMCA. The most far-reaching implication of this law was it prohibited sharing of copyrighted music and videos over peer-to-peer networks. It also prohibited cracking the software code that protects a DVD from being copied.
Copy Protection
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At the time of publication, most commercial DVDs come equipped with a copy-protection software known as Content Scrambling System (CSS). This system uses a 40-bit key to encrypt the video content on the disc. DVD players and computer disc drive manufacturers must obtain a license from the DVD Copy Control Association in order to decrypt movies. However, in the years following the DMCA being enacted, the CSS was decrypted, as numerous free software applications appeared to circumvent the copy protection and allow users to easily make a perfect digital copy of a DVD. These applications appear to be illegal under DMCA, according to "U.S. News & World Report," and can't be found in stores.
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RealNetworks Challenge
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In 2008, the Motion Picture Association of America sued Seattle-based RealNetworks, which made a DVD copying software product, RealDVD. The lawsuit sought to declare RealDVD a violation of DMCA and stop the software from being made available. In its defense, RealDVD cited a California Superior Court ruling in favor of Kaleidescape Inc., allowing the company to sell high-end systems to copy DVDs. But U.S. District Court judge Marilyn Hall Patel ruled RealNetworks' software violated DMCA because it bypassed the CSS protection.
Exceptions
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In 2010, the U.S. Copyright Office announced new rules that allowed certain exceptions for defeating DVD copyright protection. These included short sections of a video for educational uses. Specifically, the Copyright Office cited uses by college and university professors, or college and university film and media studies students who want to use video footage for documentary filmmaking or noncommercial videos.
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References
- U.S. Copyright Office: Statement of the Librarian of Congress Relating to Section 1201 Rulemaking.
- U.S. Copyright Office: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998; December 1998.
- Wired: DMCA Muscle Kills DVD Copying, for Real; David Kravets; March 2010.
- U.S. News & World Report: Is It Legal to Copy a DVD?; David Lagesse; September 2009.
- PC Magazine Encyclopedia: Definition of CSS.
- Photo Credit Stockbyte/Stockbyte/Getty Images
