EFF: Backup DVD Copies Legal Says Electronic Frontier Foundation, Asks Court to OK 321 Studio's DVD X-Copy Software

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Release

For Immediate Release: Friday, March 14, 2003


Contact:

Wendy Seltzer
   Staff Attorney
   Electronic Frontier Foundation
   wendy () eff org
   +1 415 436-9333 x125 (office), +1 914 374-0613 (cell)


Backup DVD Copies Legal Says Electronic Frontier Foundation

Asks Court to OK 321 Studio's DVD X-Copy Software

San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
is asking a court today to confirm that software designed
to make backup copies of DVDs is legal.

Championing the public's rights to use and innovate with
media, EFF is filing a friend-of-the-court brief supporting
321 Studios' challenge to the Digital Millennium Copyright
Act (DMCA). EFF, along with co-signers Public Knowledge and
Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, argue
that tools such as 321's DVD X-Copy, which enables a user
to make a personal backup copy or excerpt of a DVD, must
be lawful because they are necessary to the public's fair
use of digital media.

The movie studios on the other side of the 321 lawsuit claim
that DVD X-Copy -- and any hardware or software tools that
would allow viewers to back up or extract snippets from
DVDs -- is an unlawful circumvention device.

However, many people use DVD X-Copy for other purposes
than copyright circumvention. Videographers are
duplicating their work, professors are preparing classroom
examples, and parents are creating backups for their
children using DVD X-Copy and similar tools.

"To preserve meaningful fair use rights for the public, we
must ensure that technologies remain available to exercise
those rights," said EFF Staff Attorney Wendy Seltzer.
"Copyright law should balance public interest with private
protection, and the DMCA's anticircumvention provisions
distort that balance."

321 Studios filed suit on April 23, 2002, against MGM
Studios, Tristar Pictures, Columbia Pictures, Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Time Warner Entertainment, Disney
Enterprises, Universal City Studios, The Saul Zaentz
Company, and Pixar Corporation. All of the major motion
picture production companies except Sony Pictures
Entertainment and Pixar Corporation filed a counterclaim on
December 19, 2002.

The EFF amicus brief builds on public frustration expressed
in comments to the Copyright Office's recent
anticircumvention rulemaking. EFF helped 242 people
document the harm they have experienced from
technologically restricted CDs and DVDs.

The Northern District of California court, San Francisco
Division, will hear the case at 9:00 am on April 25, 2003.

For this release:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20030314_321_studios_pr.php

EFF brief in 321 Studios case:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20030314_321_studios_brief.php

Public Knowledge website:
http://www.publicknowledge.org/

Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility website:
http://www.cpsr.org/

Copyright Office website, including posted comments:
http://www.copyright.gov/1201/

EFF comments to Librarian of Congress and U.S. Copyright
Office:
http://www.eff.org/IP/DMCA/20021218_eff_dmca_reply_comments.html


About EFF:

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
liberties organization working to protect rights in the
digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages and
challenges industry and government to support free
expression and privacy online. EFF is a member-supported
organization and maintains one of the most linked-to
websites in the world at
http://www.eff.org/

                            -end-





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