RealNetworks Agrees To Stop Selling DVD Copying Software

3/4/10 - RealNetworks agreed to stop selling its DVD-copying software to settle lawsuits with six Hollywood studios and a trade group.

RealNetworks said it will stop distributing or supporting its RealDVD product or similar technology. It will also turn off the service that provides DVD cover art and movie information for about 2,700 people who bought RealDVD before sales were halted last year.

In their lawsuits, the studios and the Motion Picture Association of America said the software, which allows the copying of DVDs, allowed consumers to violate copyrights on movies and TV shows. RealNetworks had argued that the software wasn't causing damage to the studios and that the technology is in the public interest and constitutes fair use.

In January, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel, who in 2000 issued the injunction that shut Napster, dismissed RealNetworks' antitrust claims against Disney, Sony and the other movie studios over their alleged collusion to block RealDVD. She ruled that the studios and the DVD Copy Control Association were well within their rights to band together to prevent what they believed to be the illegal copying of their content.