Judge blocks sales of DVD copying software

Siding with several of Hollywood’s largest movie studios, a U.S. federal judge on Friday barred 321 Studios LLC from manufacturing, distributing or otherwise trafficking in software that allows users to copy DVDs.

After hearing the case last May, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Illston on Friday ruled that 321 Studios’ DVD copying software is illegal and ordered the St. Louis-based company to stop selling the products within seven days.

321 Studios will appeal and is seeking a stay of the ruling pending appeal, it said in a statement.

321 Studios’ software allows users to copy DVD movies onto recordable DVDs or standard CD-R disks, despite the encryption technology used on the discs to prevent copying, called Contents Scrambling System (CSS). 321 Studios uses a freely available decryption technology called DeCSS to circumvent CSS.

If it can’t get a stay on the order to stop offering its products during the appeal process, 321 Studios plans to continue selling its software, but without the DeCSS technology, the company said. Buyers will have to download DeCSS software, called a “ripper,” from the Internet if they want to copy protected DVDs, a 321 Studios spokeswoman said.

“Our software will not be able to back up CSS encrypted movies without the ripper,” she said. “But rippers are freely available on the Internet and our product will work seamlessly with those rippers.”

321 Studios filed suit against several motion picture companies in 2002 as a preemptive strike. A countersuit followed. Friday’s ruling came on a motion filed by MGM Studios Inc., Tristar Pictures Inc., Columbia Pictures Industries Inc., Time Warner Entertainment Co. LP, Disney Enterprises Inc., Universal City Studios LLLP and The Saul Zaentz Co.

Illston’s ruling is a setback to consumers’ rights, civil liberties group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) said in a statement Friday.