Judge halts sales of RealDVD

The RealDVD Web site showed the service was unavailable on Sunday.

(Credit: RealNetworks; Jennifer Guevin/CNET News)

A judge has ordered RealNetworks to suspend the sale of RealDVD, the controversial software that hands users the ability to copy and store films to a hard drive, according to a report published by NewTeeVee.com, a technology-news blog.

The film industry sought to prevent sales of RealDVD last week when it filed a lawsuit against RealNetworks. The Motion Picture Association of America accused Real of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and breach of contract.

According the story on NewTeeVee, the court wants sales to cease until Tuesday, when it has reviewed all the papers involved in the case. On Sunday evening, the RealDVD site notified visitors that because of the legal action taken by Hollywood, RealDVD was unavailable.

"Rest assure we will work diligently to provide you with software that allows you to make a legal copy of your DVDs," the post read.

Representatives from the MPAA and RealNetworks could not be reached Sunday.