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Friday, Mar 29, 2024

Studios Claim RealNetworks Destroyed Evidence

Heavy weight movie studios, including Disney, Warners, Sony, Fox, Universal and others have asserted in court documents that online media application firm, RealNetworks, destroyed evidence in a declarative-rights lawsuit filed by the studios. The studios claimed there was “willful” destruction of evidence relating to Real’s alleged circumvention of so-called anti-ripping technology, which protects DVDs from pirating. RealNetworks makes the RealPlayer media player product, a dominant player in the continuously mushrooming online video market, RealNetworks has asked the U.S. District Court for a declaration of its rights to launch its RealDVD product, which allows consumers to copy a DVD seamlessly onto a hard drive. But the studios say the Seattle-based tech firm knowingly destroyed evidence that allegedly refutes the company’s claim that it believes RealDVD’s inclusion of the industry-standard Content Scramble System (CSS) would sufficiently protect the copyright interests all concerned. While RealDVD does include CSS, the studios claim it circumvents other programming code studios have embedded in DVDs, such as RipGuard. The studios want the court to stop RealNetworks from destroying any documents, and remedy them of any prejudice that may have resulted from the alleged destruction of evidence. Thom Senzee

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