In October 2008, MPAA succeeded to stop the sales of realDVD. The main concept of realDVD is to rip a DVD and store a PROTECTED copy on the hard disk of a computer. A first decision of justice banned the sale. Of course, RealDVD appealed this ruling.

Currently, RealDVD site displays:

RealDVD is currently unavailable
Due to recent legal action taken by the Hollywood movie studios against us, RealDVD is temporarily unavailable. Rest assured, we will continue to work diligently to provide you with software that allows you to make a legal copy of your DVDs for your own use.

Last week, judge Patel granted a preliminary injunction in favor studios. RealDVD has been granted a license by DVD-CCA. DVD-CCA is the licensing authority for DVD. This license is mandatory to legally get the keys that allow to descramble CSS protected discs. According to judge Patel, the license of DVD forbids to make permanent copies of CSS protected DVDs. Furthermore, according to judge Patel, fair use does not allow to circumvent a protection under DMCA.

Interestingly, Kaleidescape that has the same issues (but for a high end expensive product) has also been ruled against by a Californian court during the same week.

The story continues…