RealNetworks accuses MPAA of antitrust violations

RealNetworks has accused the major film studios of antitrust violations in documents filed Wednesday with a federal court.

RealNetworks CEO Rob Glaser

(Credit: RealNetworks)

Real, a software company known best for the company's video and music player, has asked U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel for permission to file an amended second complaint against the six largest film studios as well as Viacom, the entertainment conglomerate and parent company of Parmount Pictures.

Real has been involved in a legal conflict with Hollywood over its release last year of RealDVD, a software that duplicates DVDs and stores the copies on a computer hard drive. The Motion Picture Association of America claims that RealDVD violates copyright law. The two sides have met in court this month so Patel could determine whether to remove an injunction placed on the sale of RealDVD. She halted sales last September, days after the software first went on sale.

An MPAA representative was not immediately available and a Real spokesman declined to comment.

In the latest filing, Real accuses the studios as well as the DVD Copy Control Association, a group dedicated to protecting DVDs from piracy, of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, the federal statute designed to limit cartels and monopolies.

"RealNetworks has become aware of facts demonstrating that the DVD CCA and the Studio Defendants have engaged in both a horizontal group boycott of RealNetworks," Real said in it's filing. "The testimony of the Studio Defendants during the preliminary injunction hearing further confirmed the existence of a horizontal conspiracy."

Real alleged in the document that the studios were guilty of anti-competitive practices when they agreed to block anyone from making copies of DVDs without their say so.

"(The witnesses) unambiguously," Real said in the court filing,"confirmed the Studios' position that the (Content Scrambling System) License Agreement (which is needed to legally make copies of DVDs) resulted from a joint agreement among the Studios to prohibit all copies of DVD content unless the Studios jointly authorize the making of such a copy."

More to come

[Police_States_of_America]

so what do you do if you can't rip your dvds but want to watch them on your computer? i only know one answer to that and it isnt legal.

[8301]

I didn't realize it was illegal to pop a DVD in your disk drive and use Windows Media Player (et al.) to watch it as you would on a standalone DVD player.

[d3vildog69]

Not the same, some of us movie addicts have ALOT of movies. When we go on trips, we dont want to have to worry about dragging them along so they get wrecked, or stolen. Piracy would drop if we could just do it ourselves. But they chose this route. Looks like Real is the only company on the consumer's side.

Looks like i'll be supporting more Real products. Save for the Media player.

[8301]

It's good to see someone finally realize that an influential group of very profitable companies with similar products throwing their weight around in Congress to quash any threats to their archaic distribution model might be considered anti-competitive.

[contentcreator--2008]

DVD CCA is a patent cross-licensing agreement; a patent is by definition and objective a legal monopoly. To whit, you can't license the patents necessary to play DVDs unless your equipment meets the requirements (and you pay the fee!). It's not like they have to pick specifically on RealNetworks. There's a similar agreement behind many high-tech products. RealNetworks is just trying to run up the legal bill in hopes of obtaining a settlement of some kind.

I'm sure that the MPAA would be happy with any distribution method that preserves the part where people either pay the price the copyright owner designates for the product and watch it, or don't pay and don't watch --- opposing rampant theft should hardly be surprising. MPAA and the DVD makers aren't the same nor are their interests necessarily aligned, possibly an attempt by RealNetworks to muddy the waters.

[opiapr]

@contentcreator--2008

The attempt by the MPAA has always been to control how consumers watch the media. They don't care if the users pay legally for the dvd copy if they can't double dip more profits they accuse it of piracy. The MPAA operates just like a criminal organization cartel.

[mmntech]

Indeed. The MPAA is a cartel by the definition of the term under US law. They fix prices of their products and cooperate to form a monopoly on the sale and production of media. In short, it's an illegal organization that's gone far beyond it's original mandate. The problem with movies is and always has been the huge double standard that exists between CDs and DVDs. One is legal to copy yet the other is not all because of a clause in the DMCA that effectively wipes out fair use copying rights should DRM be present. The entertainment industry would rather assume you're copying your movie collection for nefarious purposes. That may have been true 10 years ago but that was before people began owning multiple media playback devices. Organized crime still makes a pretty penny off pirated movies, and they're not sitting there with a DVD burner in their basement. Go after the real criminals for a change. However, I guess it's easier to go after Joe Consumer who wants to upload his DVDs to his personal media server.

I praise RealNetworks for standing up for the rights of themselves and consumers. Lord knows the government isn't doing it. However, I really can't see them winning this case given that the MPAA has a powerful legal team and the Obama administration behind them.

[Renegade Knight]

@contentcreator--2008

The patents not the issue. Monopolistic behavior and collusion are. Both against the law. Real may not win on that angle but it's a good case since the MPAA acts as a defacto monopoly.

A few days ago I put in a bought and paid for DVD to watch. It wouldn't play. Some sleuthing determined that for whatever reason this DVD was the wrong reigion. A perfect example of stupid DRM crap getting in the way of legitimate use. Picture if you will the argument about returning the defective product (defective in that it doesn't play because the maker screwed up). "Hello this doesn't work I want my money back." "I'm sorry but due to copyright we can't take that back. We can exhange it though" "Actually copyright has nothing whatsoever to do with your ability to refund my money on a DVD that doesn't work, but I do understand that the MPAA attorneys have probably kicked your butt so hard through their monopolistic and collusive behavior that you have no choice but to treat us customers like crap, so I'll take the exchange and think twice about buying another DVD since the maker has gotten in the way of my enjoyment and made me waste all this time"

[AppleSuxLeo]

How is Real even in business ? What do they make money from ? I`m serious.

[opiapr]

Real Rhapsody
Rhapsody MP3 Store
Real Arcade
SuperPass

2008 Total Revenue $604 Millions

i LOVE this lawsuit. Real is using the first and oldest piece of antitrust legislation, something i just finished learning about in my AP US history class in school. this is so awesome. Did i mention that the Sherman Antitrust Act has absolutely NO teeth?

[Belinus]

Oh really? Then why was Microsoft on the losing end of action based on it?

[nightingaled]

http://www.tradestead.com

[monkeyfun14]

Eh I have high doubts that this falls under a monopoly.

Real is not a film studio and there is several film studios just in the US probably hundreds in the world.

This is just a case out of spite.

[Renegade Knight]

It probably doesn't. Directy. The MPAA does have sole power over certai things though so while it seems like a stretch I'll be it will have to be looked at it. Regardless, it may fall under collusion. Another illegal practice.

[tanis143]

I dunno about this approach, but something needs to be done. I'm sick of this whole fair use vs DMCA crap. I bought the friggin disk, I want to make a backup of it. End of story. I should legally be able to do that, load it on my ipod, or my home server, etc. I shouldn't be forced to pay for it on disk, pay for it in digital format, then pay for it again for my home server. Until they find a way to "legally" do this, I just rip the sucker. MPAA needs to get a clue.

[nicmart]

Glaser adores big government socialism, but why not when it is applied to his company? Did anyone ever hear of him complaining about regulation of other companies?

[mectron]

the MPAA,it's members and DVD CCA are the whorst criminal companies in the world right now. The MPAA (suppsoed to be a non profit) sole and only mission is to steal money from consumers any way they can, it they people won't buy our member's overprice DVD's will just just take they money(collecting RAMDOM IP address and suing away).

TO solve the problems once and for all: Make DVD format PUBLIC DOMAIN, Shutdown the MPAA, declare any form of DRM illegal.

[Renegade Knight]

I think there is a lot of good in a real Public Domain format. DVD isn't too bad, but BlueRay is horrible for the overhead it imposes on your equipment just to get it to work right. You are paying for other peopels DRM. We should be able to opt out of that crap since it just gets in the way of fair use.

[cp256]

I couldn't care less about REAL, but nobody's going to tell me what I can and can't do with something I buy. If I own the disc it will get ripped to my media server and the MPAA, DVD CCA, RIAA and all the other media fascist extortionists can simply KMA. Even if I don't own the disc and just have a "license" to play it on approved players, it's getting ripped. I'm not going to allow those crackfrakkers to double and triple dip me.

[contentcreator--2008]

It's nice that you are so all-powerful that you are entitled to change the contract terms however you like. Buy one movie ticket, and you can go for life, eh? Buy one soda, get the rest of the case for free. What, that one soda or movie ticket is now more expensive? The more people think they can do what they want regardless of the terms, the more unpleasantness there is going to be.

Having people claim a CD or DVD is overpriced because it costs more than the 0.20 or whatever manufacturing cost is just insane, when the data on it costs tens and hundreds of millions of dollars to make. Whine about obsolete business models all you want, but the ability to set price and terms for intellectual property can not be lost.

[Renegade Knight]

@contentcreator--2008

There are no contract terms. Contracts for software work bercause of the click to accept EULA. Contracts for DVD and CD's don't exist. This takes us back to fair use. What you thought I might do with your IP when I paid to enjoy it doesn't really mean much to me when it comes to my actual enjoyment. I only need to stay away from your ablity to market per copyright law and quite frankly you need to stay out of my fair use enjoyment if you want to maximize the real value of your work. It's symbiotic.

[RonPaulRules]

@contentcreator--2008 I dare you to post said contract, and anyone that has agreed to it. You can't agree to something that doesn't exist.

[brickman5721]

This is entirely about greed. The DMCA infringes upon our intuitive right to use our purchased content as we please for PERSONAL use. It should be struck down. I REFUSE to purchase the same content multiple times in different formats and I REFUSE to repurchase DVDs which have been rendered unplayable through normal usage. This is absurd and ridiculous. Real's product would be a step in the right direction, but it still fails to provide all of the features to which content consumers are entitled. If you sit and think a minute about what I'm saying, you'll realize exactly how ridiculous it is that our representatives in Congress ever thought the DMCA was a fair law to impose upon the citizens of this country or even a necessary one. Copyright law provides all the protection digital media deserves. When you purchase a copy of some piece of content, you should be able to do what you please with it as long as what you're doing falls into the category of private, personal use. The DMCA is a law that seeks to make people pay for the same media over and over again. This is wrong.

[dugn]

Although no big fan of Real, if they can be a proponent for reconciling the conflict between Fair Use and the DMCA that prevents copying of content legally purchased when you break protections to do it, I applaud them moving this discussion forward.

[BtmnHatesRbn]

Ah, any DVD can be cloned. Real is doing right, but they're products stink. The MPAA sucks. I don't have a solution, oh...what This Film is Not Yet Rated to see the problems with the MPAA. That movie did get one fact wrong when it falsely called the acting head of the MPAA a Republican, because when I researched that fact, the lady in question is a life-long Democrat.

[gggg sssss]

real media = pot calling kettle black LOL

[pentest]

K3Bhas the solution. It can make a bit-for-bit duplicate of your DVD or CD without circumventing copyright.

I use it to make backups and make a copy of a disk I own but is unreadable.

The RIAA and MPAA can just deal with it. It is completely fair and does in fact fall into the fair use exception.