In April 2002, before releasing its DVD X-Copy product, St Louis-based 321 Studios pre-empted a lawsuit by asking a court to confirm that its software was legal. In December 2003, before a decision was reached, the movie industry sued.
The case is important because it will force the courts to decide on the scope of the controversial 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), which prohibits people from using or distributing devices that can bypass copyrights and copy prevention measures.
The UK has similar provisions, which came into force on 31st October last year, and these will be tested in another case filed against 321 Studios by Warner Home Video in December.
But these are not the only actions pending against 321 Studios.
The UK courts are due to hear another case filed against 321 in August 2003 by the Motion Picture Association, a trade body that represents the interests of US movies in the international market and counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America.
The MPA's lawsuit relied on the UK's Copyright, Designs and Patents Act of 1988 which, among other things, makes it illegal to make copies of CDs, DVDs or videos – even for personal use.
In November last year, Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures filed a US lawsuit against the company, alleging that the software is in violation of the DMCA. Shortly afterwards, Macrovision, another US copy-protection technology company, filed its own suit against 321 Studios alleging patent infringement.
On Friday, came the announcement that technology association the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) had filed a suit alleging patent infringement by 321 Studios. 321 has yet to respond.
The DVD CCA announced last month that it was dropping a long running lawsuit over the publication of software code known as DeCSS on the internet.
That code can be used to break the anti-copying protection in DVDs known as CSS, and DVD CCA took action in 1999 against people and businesses that had published the code on the internet, claiming that they had illegally misappropriated a trade secret.
On dropping the case the DVD CCA explained that it would be taking other measures to protect its anti-copying software. Among these measures is the case announced on Friday.