p2pnet - rss feed: MPAA sues CSS chip firms
p2pnet.net News:- Two microchip makers have been sued by the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) on the ground that they sold their products to makers of equipment that can be used to illegally copy DVDs.
The MPAA was behind the death of 321 Studios, a company which sold disc back-up software. And behind the Hollywood case was the implication that 321 customers would use the 321 packages to make illegal copies of DVDs for re-sale online or through blackmarkets.
In this latest twist, Sigma Designs and MediaTek are said to have improperly sold their CSS (Content Scramble System) busting chips to companies whose DVD players “lack what the MPAA called ‘appropriate security features’,” says Reuters here.
DRM in its many and various configurations does little or nothing to halt copying and/or file sharing. Nonetheless, corporate entertainment companies continue to spend millions on it.
Together with their colleagues in the recording industry, the studios have been left high and dry by a court finding that in effect says p2p companies aren’t liable for contributory and vicarious copyright infringement.
August 24th, 2004 at 10:28 pm
Some of these firms should get a class action together.
August 25th, 2004 at 12:40 am
Whats even funnier is that both of these companies make 3 in one chip solutions, MPEG2, MPEG4 (DiVX), ARM, allowing everyone to play DivX encoded movies.
August 27th, 2004 at 3:36 am
Who the hell died and gave the MPAA paramilitary powers?
WTF do they think they are doing? Since when is it illegal for a legal company to sell a piece of high-tech, especially when it’s to other comapanies?
Damn, this is INNOVATION.
How the hell can the MPAA justify shutting down corporate dealings to create/sell technological advances in the US marketplace?
This pretty much goes against the entire laissez faire system of economics, no? Adam Smith would be rolling in his grave.
August 27th, 2004 at 5:59 am
I agree completely. The MPAA and RIAA are on a rampage, and they need to be stopped. Case in point, the new P.I.R.A.T.E. Act (which I think still has yet to pass one of the levels of Congress), in which the Department of Justice will handle lawsuits for the poor industry. Meaning, the executives of the studios get to use taxpayer money, instead of their own, to file their petty lawsuits.
The whole idea of intellectual property is being corrupted by these deep-pocket interests and their lobby. Someone please shut them down soon!