Macrovision Sues Two Companies for DVD Copying Products
Macrovision has filed suit against Sima Products Corporation and Interburn Enterprises Inc. claiming that they offer products that break its patented copyright protection technology.
According to the suit filed Tuesday in New York, Santa Clara, Sima's "Video
Enhancers," which are principally used to allow consumers to make unauthorized copies
of copyrighted DVDs, infringe Macrovision's patented copy protection technology and
also violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). These products include,
but are not limited to, products currently marketed under the names CT-1, CT-100,
CT-2, CT-200, and SCC-2. The lawsuit further charges that Interburn products infringe
Macrovision's intellectual property and the DMCA.
"Sima and Interburn infringe Macrovision's intellectual property by offering products that enable users to make unauthorized copies of copyrighted content by illegally removing our copy protection system," said Macrovision CEO Bill Krepick. "The Sima and Interburn products have very limited commercial uses other than to circumvent Macrovision's copy protection technology and are marketed by Sima and Interburn for use in copying DVD's, among other types of media. The Sima/Interburn lawsuit is based on a fundamental cornerstone of the American economic system "protection of intellectual capital."
Macrovision is asking the court to order an immediate halt to sales of Sima' "ideo enhancer"products and Interburn' CD/DVD copying products.
Sima, which is based in Oakmont, Pa., has not been served with a lawsuit and declined to comment, said Kathy Ruane, Sima's marketing manager. The company learned of the lawsuit from reporters, she added.
Sima has been selling duplication tools for the past eight to 10 years, she added.
"We have had correspondence back and forth with Macrovision -- our lawyers and their lawyers," she said. "As far as we knew, it was correspondence."
Interburn, according to its Web site, offers DVD X Copy, a program that allows copyright protected DVDs to be duplicated.
Missouri-based 321 Studios Inc., which created the program, lost several rounds in federal court and eventually retooled the software last year to remove the mechanism that cracked the copyright protection mechanism built into commercial DVDs. Interburn offers older versions of the 321 program.
"Sima and Interburn infringe Macrovision's intellectual property by offering products that enable users to make unauthorized copies of copyrighted content by illegally removing our copy protection system," said Macrovision CEO Bill Krepick. "The Sima and Interburn products have very limited commercial uses other than to circumvent Macrovision's copy protection technology and are marketed by Sima and Interburn for use in copying DVD's, among other types of media. The Sima/Interburn lawsuit is based on a fundamental cornerstone of the American economic system "protection of intellectual capital."
Macrovision is asking the court to order an immediate halt to sales of Sima' "ideo enhancer"products and Interburn' CD/DVD copying products.
Sima, which is based in Oakmont, Pa., has not been served with a lawsuit and declined to comment, said Kathy Ruane, Sima's marketing manager. The company learned of the lawsuit from reporters, she added.
Sima has been selling duplication tools for the past eight to 10 years, she added.
"We have had correspondence back and forth with Macrovision -- our lawyers and their lawyers," she said. "As far as we knew, it was correspondence."
Interburn, according to its Web site, offers DVD X Copy, a program that allows copyright protected DVDs to be duplicated.
Missouri-based 321 Studios Inc., which created the program, lost several rounds in federal court and eventually retooled the software last year to remove the mechanism that cracked the copyright protection mechanism built into commercial DVDs. Interburn offers older versions of the 321 program.
