DVD copy company appeals ban

Software maker 321 Studios, which until recently offered a way to make perfect copies DVDs, said it has appealed a pair of court rulings that bars it from selling its product.

Judges in California and New York have said the company's software, which Hollywood studios have bitterly opposed, violates federal copyright law. In both appeals, the company contends that the copyright law is unconstitutional and that consumers have a right to make backup copies of DVDs or other materials they have legally purchased.

good for 321

Why doesn't the banking industry push legislation to ban
automobiles, since thieves employ them to rob banks? Or, how
about every industry ban food, since thieves have to eat?

The bottom-line is that everything is used both for good and
bad. People who break the law should be punished, if it can be
shown that (a) what the person is accused of is actually illegal
and (b) the person did the illegal action. Where does 'innocent
before proven guilty' fall into this issue? Is 321 actively breaking
the law? Why should there be any limitation on someone or a
company making a produce that CAN be used to break the law?
Unless something can ONLY be used to break the law, a
company should not be kept from developing a product. The
idea that a big corporation, which only has its bottomline to
protect, should have ANY influence or credibility is the real
crime. Companies don't protect people; companies protect
themselves and their cash-flow.

[HughT]

Corporate crooks

In the land of hypocrisy (USA) the corporations stifle development whenever it suits them in order to fatten their own purses, always at the consumers' expence and ususally with the help of the government. examples
1. the battle over vcr technology
2. the monopoly of Microsoft
3. the development of the audio CD
4. the regional coding for movies
5. the current battle over VoIP
In all these cases the corporate interests have tried to keep prices at the maximum by limiting the development of technology and its availability to the consuming public. They eventually lose the battle but not before costing consumers millions of dollars for their own benefit.
They lose not because the US government protects consumers but in spite of the US government. They lose because people who defy the law eventually outnumber the vested interest groups and they are world wide. The reson there are pirates is because the vested interests price their products hundreds of times higher than they should leaving a vast space for less greedy people to make a living.
In the end the vested interest groups have to give in or face their own demise. By that time though they have made many more millions and could care less.

Free 321

I think that x copy is a great product and the record and film industry need to take a hike. the insestous relationship between them and the congress of the US show why campaign financeing is needed.

Entertainment Mafia are the Criminals

Why prosecute criminals, when it's easier to just suck money from other corporations ?

It IS legal to make back-up copies. It IS legal to place a copy on your PC (My Laptop documentation suggests this because optical drives use a lot more power than the HD, for example).

This is the mindset of Gun Control - outlaw anything tha MIGHT be used unlawfully (by the way, bugspray and gasoline are vastly more dangerous than guns - in the wrong hands...).

And use the COURTS to make Law, why bother with Leglislative process when the court system is SO much faster and also able to define ca$h $ettlement$ as well.

Of course, we all agree that anyone making AND DISTRIBUTING (eg;selling, perhaps eBay, etc.) illegal copies should be prosecuted - sorry if they might not have the large amounts of ca$h that companies might have - but why can't we (as a society) focus on CRIMINALS, and quit looking around for 'POSSIBLE items that MIGHT be used unlawfully'.

It would have been illegal if 321 had STOLEN the decryption algorythms (but this was never even alleged, they apparently developed this HONESTLY). This is Sooo much like the fuss about "Problems" with digital media needing to be "Copy-protected" (the REAL problem is that the media won't just expire like a record or tape - if we can back it up - not a problem of "Pirate Sales", but a problem of "lack of repeat sales because the customer can maintain the integrity of the original". To back up / edit my Digital 'Copy Protected' music I simply used DBX Cassette ("Analog"), which I can then re-digitize. Sorry none for sale, just for my own use.

Hollywood should consider Japan's approach, MUCH SHORTER COPYRIGHT PERIODS - which force performers and studios to KEEP PRODUCING NEW ENTERTAINMENT - rather than relying on "Copy-Protection" and decades of Copyright protection to keep milking the public for 'old' work.

Entertainment is heavily overpriced (like a cetain PC Operating system I can think of), and taking honest companies like 321 to Court should be punishable by law - with unlimited fines possible (money is the only thing that the "Entertainment Mafia" respects)...

[pamdcoy]

The real thieves

The real thieves are those who increase copyright periods and copy restrictions- because that steals from the public what would end up public domain, and steals fair use rights from the public.

In contrast copying isn't stealing - the author/creator/owner still has his/her original and can use it freely.

There are many laws against theft, but you can't use them to stop copying - that's why countries have copyright laws! So remember copying isn't stealing, even though the Corporations have successfully brainwashed the ignorant masses into believing it.