Six Hollywood studios are suing RealNetworks over new DVD copying software that allows movies to be copied to up to five computers.
Hollywood's six major movie studios sued RealNetworks to prevent it from distributing DVD copying software that they said would allow consumers to "rent, rip and return" movies.
The studios stand to lose a key revenue source if consumers stop buying DVDs and copy rental discs from outlets like Netflix and Blockbuster instead.
The suit, filed in the United States District Court in Los Angeles, alleges RealNetworks' RealDVD program, which was launched last week, illegally bypasses the copyright protection built into DVDs.
"The RealDVD software would enable massive theft of creative content that would have a direct, negative impact on the delivery of movies, television shows and other entertainment," the Motion Picture Association of America said in a statement.
For $US30 ($NZ45.50), consumers can buy RealDVD and use it indefinitely to copy DVDs to computers or portable hard drives, though the program prevents them from transferring the files to other users.
The maker calls RealDVD "100% legal" on its website.
"This is not a product that enables Internet piracy," said Bob Kimball, general counsel for RealNetworks.
Real has said the software enables DVDs to be copied to up to five computers and does not alter the encryption technology on the disc that is meant to prevent wide-scale piracy.
"The software locks the copy on to the hard drive on to which it is copied and to the program it was copied with," Kimball said, and he asserted that copying one's personal collection of DVDs amounts to "fair use" allowed by law.
Kimball said the company discourages using the program to rip rental DVDs, but he acknowledged there's nothing to prevent consumers from doing that.
"We are very open to coming up with solutions to that problem that will require industry participation," he said.
The studios had asked the company not to launch the product last week.
The studios argued the federal Digital Millennium Copyright Act made it illegal to circumvent technology that prevented copying without the express permission of the copyright holders.
The plaintiffs in the case include Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures, Twentieth Century Fox, Universal, Walt Disney, and Warner Bros.
