| The Movie and Gaming Industries Have Won a Small Battle in the Fight Against Piracy |
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| Home Theater News DVD Hardware-Software News | |
| Written by Kate Regan | |
| Friday, 06 August 2004 | |
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After
months of legal battles with the movie and gaming industries, 321
Studios, Inc. has folded and will no longer be marketing, producing or
distributing their popular DVD and video game copying software. The
software was created with the intention to "back-up, copy and restore"
any video game or DVD you may own, but people in Hollywood and the
video gaming world saw it as just another way to promote piracy.
The final blow in a long line of legal battles came last month when a New York federal judge imposed a world-wide ban on the production and distribution of 321's Games X Copy software, a program designed to back up video games. This decision was part of a lawsuit brought against 321 by Atari, Electronic Arts Inc. and Vivendi Universal Games. Hollywood also went after 321 early this year. Studios claimed that 321's DVD X Copy software was in violation of the 1998 Digital Millenium Copyright Act because it contained a program to descramble movies and then copy them. The studios won the suit and 321 was no longer able to market their software. (They later set it back out on the market without the program that descrambles movies.) Shutting 321 Studios down is a very notable victory for the movie and gaming industries in their fight against piracy. They have shown that they have enough clout and unity to get things done, unlike the music industry, which continues to battle againt the rising numbers of people who are downloading music for free. Source: CNN.com Like this article? Bookmark and share with any of the sites below.        |
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