Free Republic

RealNetworks is putting its considerable prestige behind a DVD-copying Windows application, moving into territory hitherto occupied by illegal freeware. The $30 program called RealDVD will copy not only the main disc content but also the extras and art. In an interview with The New York Times, Real chief Robert Glaser calls it "a compelling and very responsible product" for making disc backups and transferring content to a laptop for viewing on the road. Expect Hollywood to erupt over this like a volcano. The studios have long litigated against companies making DVD ripping software, which circumvents the DVD Copy Control Association's...

Back when Apple was settling a lawsuit with the Beatles and agreeing not to switch from the computer industry to music, the idea of Apple Computer being in the same business as Apple Records seemed a bit silly. And yet today, computer technology has advanced so rapidly that today there’s no telling where computers stop and music begins. The result is a potentially cataclysmic clash of special interests, and Apple’s right in the middle of it. As a technology company, Apple is in the business of creating innovative products and selling them to you and me. But today, a lot...

USSC Reverses Stay on California Supreme Court DVD Decision. San Francisco - The U.S. Supreme Court today reversed an earlier temporary hold on a case involving DVD descrambling. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld a California Supreme Court decision ruling that the entertainment industry cannot force a Texas resident who published a software program on the Internet to stand trial in California. The California Supreme Court decided on November 25, 2002, that Matthew Pavlovich, who republished an open source DVD-descrambling software program called DeCSS, will not have to defend a trade secret lawsuit simply because he knew that his publication could...