AfterDawn: News

Australian retailer forced to pull DVD X Copy

Australian IT retailer Conexus has been forced by the country's anti-piracy organization, Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT, an ally of American MPAA), to pull off the shelves a DVD backup product DVD X Copy.

"The letter advised Conexus that, according to AFACT’s interpretation, the product was infringing Australian copyright law," a spokesperson for the company said. "They were told that legal action would follow if they continued to distribute it."



Product, which is developed by American 321 Studios, has sparked already six lawsuits against its developers -- four in States and two in the UK.

After the note from AFACT, Conexus pulled the product and contacted 321 Studios, who replaced the software with a version that ships without an internal DVD ripper. Buyers of the ripper-free version can make the software work exactly like the original that came with the ripper by installing some of the freeware DVD ripping tools that integrate with the Windows, such as DVD43.

Source: ARNnet

Written by: Petteri Pyyny @ 16 Feb 2004 14:57

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• 5 comments

• Nephilim

  American legal retardation has jumped to yet another continent.
  
  Once again they force an issue that will have absolutely no effect on the whole scheme of things.

  16.2.2004 15:11 #1

• Nephilim

  I guess they'll stop that evil granny in Brisbane that wanted to back up "Driving Miss Daisy".

  16.2.2004 15:13 #2

• Pentsai

  Once an individual has bought a product, does he or she not have the right to give it away? I can see if the individual was making thousands of copies and then selling them there may be an issue...If I tape songs that play on the radio or programs on tv to watch or listen to later would I be just as guilty as the person backing up a dvd so the original would last longer? Many people for many years have been using tape decks and vcrs to do just that, but not a wimper from the zealots over the years....Sour grapes I say....

  17.2.2004 11:05 #3

• GrayArea

  How did hollywood pull off adding copy protection to DVDs in the first place? That should have been illegal from the start according to any reasonable interpretation of fair use doctrine. I don't consider a $25 DVD to be a consumable product. That $25 buys me the right to watch it whenever I want for as long as I own that disc and then resell it if I want to. It should also include the right to make a back-up! Optical discs are so easily damaged that it only makes sense to make a back-up copy. Let's say the kids are having a slumber party. Give them $100 worth of DVDs and see how many $20 coasters we have in the morning? I don't think so. 321 Studios includes a feature that disables making copies from a back-up copy of a disc (at least using their software). They clearly intended this product for making back-ups. This has nothing to do with content being "illegally" shared on the net. WTF? DMCA bull$hit.

  17.2.2004 11:22 #4

• noshow

  not ony that all that i buy the b5 and sg1 series, that stops now, was going to a dvd player, but now ill stay with the VHS TAPES, i bought these serial and thru the shipping, i had 1 disk in each bad, due to them coming out of the holder, only thing that saved me was the dvd x rescue. if i cant back up, then im not going to buy DVD.s and if more do the same whats that telling them. i know people that due and there kids miss them up by drop, sliding them on the serface of something then there toast, at least with the vhs that not a problem. besides i wonder how much they paid the judge off.

  26.2.2004 16:39 #5