SEATTLE, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Digital entertainment
services company RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK) and its subsidiary,
RealNetworks Home Entertainment, Inc., issued the following statement:
"In response to threats made by the major movie studios, RealNetworks
this morning plans to file an action for a declaratory judgment against DVD
Copy Control Association, Inc., Disney Enterprises, Inc., Paramount
Pictures Corp., Sony Pictures Entertainment, Inc., Twentieth Century Fox
Film Corp., NBC Universal, Inc., Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., and
Viacom, Inc., in the United States District Court for the Northern District
of California. The lawsuit asks the court to rule that RealNetworks Home
Entertainment, Inc.'s RealDVD software, made available to consumers today
at http://www.realdvd.com, fully complies with the DVD Copy Control
Association's license agreement.
"RealDVD allows consumers to securely store, manage and play their DVDs
on their computers. It does not enable users to distribute copies of their
DVDs. RealDVD not only maintains the DVD's native CSS encryption intact, it
also adds another layer of digital rights management encryption that
effectively locks the DVD copy to the owner's computer to ensure that the
content can not be improperly copied or shared. RealDVD provides consumers
with a great solution for the playback and management of their DVD
collections while adding security that is more robust than CSS.
"RealNetworks took this legal action to protect consumers' ability to
exercise their fair-use rights for their purchased DVDs. The DVD CCA, which
represents numerous parties including all of the major studios, previously
sued another company over the same issues. The trial court ruled against
the DVD CCA and allowed the distribution of a product similar to RealDVD.
(See DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. Kaleidescape, Inc., Santa Clara
Superior Court Case No. 1-04-CV031829, available online at
http://www.kaleidescape.com/company/pr/PR-20070329-DVDCCA.php. Having lost
the case once, the major studios are now trying to get a different result
by going to a different court.
"We are disappointed that the movie industry is following in the
footsteps of the music industry and trying to shut down advances in
technology rather than embracing changes that provide consumers with more
value and flexibility for their purchases.
"For nearly 15 years RealNetworks has created innovative products that
are fully legal, great for consumers, and respectful of the legitimate
interests of content creators and rights holders. RealDVD follows in that
tradition. We expect to successfully defend our right to make RealDVD
available to consumers and consumers' rights to use it."
ABOUT REALNETWORKS
RealNetworks, Inc. delivers digital entertainment services to consumers
via PC, portable music player, home entertainment system or mobile phone.
Real created the streaming media category in 1995 and has continued to lead
the market with pioneering products and services, including: RealPlayer(R),
the first mainstream media player to enable one-click downloading and
recording of Internet video; the award-winning Rhapsody(R) digital music
service, which delivers more than 1 billion songs per year; RealArcade(R),
one of the largest casual games destinations on the Web; and a variety of
mobile entertainment services, such as ringback tones, offered to consumers
through leading wireless carriers around the world. RealNetworks' corporate
information is located at http://www.realnetworks.com/company.
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