Many iPod ® video users have been frustrated by the lack of ability to load legally purchased movies in DVD format onto their devices. Although iTunes ® users can successfully load songs from CDs into iTunes ®, those users cannot load their movies. According to the MPAA, DVD purchasers must re-purchase movies in the iTunes-friendly Quicktime .mov format.
Although conversion technology exists to convert .wmv files to .mov files, some argue that such an action would violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). DVDs, unlike most music compact discs, contain encryption technology to prevent buyers from copying the movie. The DMCA provides that “[n]o person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work….” 17 U.S.C. 1201(a). Ripping a DVD and converting it to another format is arguably a violation of this DMCA provision.
Boston-based Load ‘N Go, is being sued by the MPAA for copyright infringement and DMCA violations. Load ‘N Go sells software that allows users to rip DVDs they own and upload them to their iPods. They will even sell an iPod pre-loaded with your DVDs. (News story here.)
These DMCA provisions and the methods the market uses to employ them struck two legislators as counter-intuitive. It does not seem logical that users can copy compact disks but not DVDs. Click here to read our blog post on a proposed amendment to the DMCA called the Freedom And Innovation Revitalizing U.S. Entrepreneurship Act of 2007 (FAIR USE Act) that seeks to remedy some of the less consumer-friendly provisions of the DMCA.