RealNetworks files lawsuit against MPAA

The ongoing legal drama between RealNetworks and Hollywood has taken a new turn after Real recently filed an antitrust claim against Hollywood movie studios.

Real is accusing Hollywood of being nothing more than a "price-fixing cartel" aimed at stopping software makers from creating software allowing consumers to create copies of their DVDs.  Real hopes the court will lift a ban against its RealDVD software so it can again be sold to consumers.

Real’s RealDVD software faced immediate criticism from Hollywood even before the software was publicly released — even though the software had digital rights management (DRM) security implemented.  The company tried to avoid legal issues by implementing an additional level of DRM already on top of the regular DRM from the DVD, which makes it more difficult to share the movies over peer-to-peer networks.

Real now believes the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) illegally created a Content Scramble System licensing agreement which blocks DVD copying.

"The CSS agreement is being used to extend a legally granted monopoly over content into separate markets — to prevent competition fromm technologies that would allow a copy of content for fair use purposes," according to a statement Real issued to U.S. District Judge Marilyn Hall Patel.  "But making the making of a copy of a studio DVD is authorized fair use under the Copyright Act."

I think Real will have a difficult time trying to convince the court all consumers can claim "fair use" when making DVD backups — federal courts never bought this argument in the past, and likely won’t in Real’s favor.  This could simply be a stall tactic just to get under the skin of the MPAA, which obviously remains engaged in a brutal legal case with Real.