The International arm of the American film industry representative body, the Motion Picture Association (MPA), is taking legal action in the UK against 321 Studios seeking to prevent the sale of its DVD copying software in the UK. The industry organisation has launched its High Court bid through Warner Home Video UK.
The MPAA claim the the software is in “flagrant breach” of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 because it allows anti-copying protection of DVDs to be bypassed. Jack Valenti, its President and CEO said “The law does not allow for the copying of commercial DVDs, and technologies designed to get round copyright protection are plain unlawful.”
321 Studio’s position is that the purchaser of a DVD has a right to make a copy to guard against its loss or damage. Back in February 2003, 321 Studios announced their own Piracy Prevention Program offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of any parties misusing the software for pirating movies.
This news comes on the same day that another UK company, Redxpress, plan to launch their DVD copying software in the UK.