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Moore's company was sued by a trio of large video game companies on Tuesday. The companies contend that 321 Studios' recently released Games X Copy software violated copyright law. Previously, a San Francisco judge had ruled that 321's popular DVD X Copy was illegal, because it was able to circumvent copyright protection programs. The judge ordered it removed from the market.
The company, which used to number nearly 400 employees, has laid off all but about 20 people now. Although he hasn't made the decision, the latest lawsuit may well trigger a final shutdown, Moore said.
"That is one of the options that we're considering," Moore said. "This has been a long and enjoyable ride up until the time we lost in California. Things have gone from good to bad to worse since then."
The St. Louis company has been a standard-bearer for the idea of fair use of entertainment--essentially the idea that consumers should be able to make personal backup copies of products they have purchased, such as CDs, DVDs or video games.
Copyright law allows people to make their own backup copies of CDs, since in most cases, music discs do not have copy protection coding to block such duplication. However, DVDs and many software packages and video games have digital rights management tools that prevent copying. Copyright law forbids distribution of tools that can break through these technological guards, though consumers might otherwise have the right to make personal copies of their legally purchased content.
Content companies contend that the DVD and game-copying software contributed to wider piracy instead of being limited to simple home backups.
"Video game copyright owners stand to lose an enormous amount from the piracy enabled by products like Games X Copy," Entertainment Software Association President Douglas Lowenstein said in a statement, announcing the game maker's lawsuit Tuesday.
Although 321 Studios has stripped the ability to copy Hollywood DVDs from its popular software, free tools that do the same thing are still widely available online. Hollywood studios have sued a handful of other companies that offer similar products.
Moore said that even if his company closes its doors, it has had an impact. He cited a recent visit to Congress, in which several lawmakers were sympathetic to the company's plight.
"They understand that it's common sense," he said. "People who buy things in the store should have a right to back things up for personal use."
CNET News.com writer Matt Hines contributed to this story.
When your company makes and easy to "misunderstand" product that many people accuse of ignoring the relevent laws, wouldn't you think that it would be a good idea NOT to ignore the CAN-SPAM and privacy laws?
They irritate everyone they come in contact with. It not surpising that they aren't winning over many supporters.
After, an e-mail they did something to reactivate my software. If the activation required by their software is not permanently disabled, they will leave an angry group of formerly happy customers.
That is why activation sucks.
Take into effect that a lot of DVD purchases are those cheesy direct-to-video kids' movies. You've got a whole new issue here - clumsy, sticky little fingers getting God knows what on the discs, dropping them and scratching them, falling and breaking them, etc.
We have a right given to us, BY LAW, to make legal backup copies of media that we paid for! But because of some lowly, smegma-sucking miscreants going out and distributing copied movies, CD's, games, etc., via the Internet or on the street, this right is being taken away from us. The MPAA and RIAA and game manufacturers are basically telling us, "Hey, thanks for buying our product. You break it, you buy it again." Unlike other products, these do not come with a warranty! We should be able to make backups of them FOR OUR OWN PERSONAL USE!
The next thing you know, the MPAA and the RIAA will don jackboots and start goose-stepping their way up and down the streets of every town in the USA, break down our doors, and force us to buy new copies each and every time we want to use the media we paid so much for already! They've got us by the short and curlies, and they know it.
The only way to stop them is to boycott the major labels and production companies and start supporting the indies. They care more about us than any of those plastic, bimbotic meat-puppets who make millions per picture or album. Let's see how quickly they let go of our short and curlies when we put a deathgrip on their purse strings!
If your CD copy is damaged or unreadable, you should be able to send it back to the manufacturer, and get a new copy for free. Limited only to CDs, not jewel cases or liner notes, and allowing for up to three replacements per CD instance. The only thing you pay is postage back to them.
This way, you obviate the need to make a copy just in case your original is damaged. Also, you can't claim "theft" as an excuse for backups anymore because no other product has a "free replacement if lost" policy. That's what homeowner's insurance is for.
Let's see if those bastards really want justice and fairness. I doubt they do.
Remo
If they are not going to allow us to protect our investment then this is fair. If they don't want to do this, then they need to lower the price to $9.95 so that we are not risking $60 to several hundred dollars or more. This policy should cover audio CDs, DVDs, computer software and console games.
The issue of being able to back up what you buy is even more important when you realize that we have been lied to when it comes to how long CDs and DVD's will last. There have been lots of reports on the net about disc rot, etc. Not to mention damage from normal use.
This is just another example of greedy corporate america shafting the people that the need to stay in business and yet another example of how stupid the general public is because they don't do anything to stop it. It is with in out power to take back control, we just have to be bright enough or have the guts enough to do it. I suspect hell will freeze over first.
Robert
I don't think the durability of the product comes into it. There are lots of items that aren't very durable than, glassware for example. I have been using CD's and DVD's since they have been available and have yet to damage one, I've dropped a few glasses though. It's up to us all to look after the expensive things that we purchase.
With regard to buying the tape, then the CD, etc, I don't really see the issue. If I already have the tape and I choose to buy the CD I must see some value in having the CD as well. If I see a value I should be prepared to pay. If you don't see the value, don't buy it. Noone forces us to buy the 'Director's Cut' version of a movie we already have on DVD. Our buying power (or specifically our saving power) should see the companies shift towards bringing out things that we do value and want.
With regard to royalties, generally the original work is being used by other people to make money e.g. radio stations to get people to listen so they can sell advertising. HBO to get viewers so they can sell advertising. If someone was using my work to make money for themselves I'd definitely want a part of it if I could get it, wouldn't you?
My problem is that I think the focus here is wrong. If the products in the marketplace aren't what we want, or at a price that we don't feel we should pay then we simply shouldn't buy them. That way we have not only right on our side, but also pure hardnosed economics.
Arguing our right to copy cd's and DVD's for 'fair use' just muddies the waters and opens the door for people who want to copy for gain rather than personal protection. All the time those people exist the industry can use them as an excuse and not deal with the real issues.
Imagine if copying software disappeared tomorrow. Shareholders will instantly expect extra sales of however many billion dollars it is claimed are being lost to theft today. Then we might see some real creativity in the industry.
By the way, I'm from the UK where the rule seems to be to rub out the dollar sign and replace it with a pound sign. Your $15.99 DVD here would be around £15.99, which at todays rates is just under 30 dollars. At that price it's almost worth paying an experienced surgeon to extract the disk from the packaging :-)
I'm not about copying stuff that doesn't belong to me or sharing it outside my immediate family either , and i think we have the right to do that. i don't think the all powerful media has the right to tell me what i can do in my own home, which is exactly what's going on, slowly, surely, whisper by whisper, campaign donation by campaign donation. If they get all their way we will all be reading ( not a bad idea) or matrix like digital pods consuming their feed 20 dollar bill by 20 dollar bill. Check out the Electronic Frontier Foundation and get informed . thanks for your time
The first application that I brought was dvdXcopy which was a must have item for me. I brought a copy of it a few weeks before they were ordered to cease and decist selling the product with anti-copy guard striping removed.
321 Studios did not sell or advertise the product agressively enough either. It was an unkown product until the short-lived controversy of the product surfaced briefly in the news for a few weeks then vanished.
But since 321 Studios didn't agressively pursue both advertising and selling the product by word of mouth they lost huge revenue advantages against other media copy companies that have now taken over their market share. They let the lawsuits pile up before they could even break away from them.
So thus is the demise of 321 Studios and sadly to say will be missed.
were a company that went from 10-400 down to 20
employees or so in less than 3 years. there is only so much
one group can do without the help from others. There was
press- but big press costs big money.
The court injunction was crippling to them, and after such a
revenue loss, there's only so much they could do... those
who are not familiar with their short tumultuous history-
there were record layoffs.
they did make a mark though- they started it, now it's up
to people to continue this ridiculous fair use fight.
- DVD X Copy no longer ranked at www.dvdxcopyreviews.com
- by shakenbaker May 13, 2007 7:18 AM PDT
- Wow, DVD X Copy was an excellent product - the best DVD Copy Software of all time. As per http://www.dvdxcopy.com , DVD X Copy products are no longer being sold or supported. I went to http://www.dvdxcopyreviews.com and there are some excellent DVDXCopy alternative software programs for DVD copying. I've tried both of the top ranked DVD copy software products and they are both awesome! Both of these companies picked up where 321 Studios left off.
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