Tuesday, September 30, 2008

RealNetworks Sues Hollywood

Seattle-based RealNetworks said today that it is suing a group of Hollywood studios, in a pre-emptive lawsuit to protect the firm's new RealDVD service. According to Realnetworks, it and its subsidiary, RealNetworks Home Entertainment, Inc., plan to file an action this morning against the 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., asking to rule that its RealDVD software complied with a license agreement from the DVD Copy Control Association. RealNetworks launched its RealDVD service earlier this month, allowing consumers to save and copy DVDs to a hard drive while preserving DVD encryption. The firm said it is filing the lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California.