The movie industry won a recent court battle when U.S. District Court Judge Marilyn Hall Patel granted a preliminary injunction on the sale of RealDVD, a software program designed to copy a DVD to a computer hard drive. The court deemed the program a violation of the 1998 Millennium Copyright Act.

The movie industry’s victory will likely cost them in the long run. RealDVD software is one of the only DVD copying programs that limit the number of copies a user can “rip.” The court decision will undoubtedly spawn more piracy sites that exist based solely on a complete disregard for copyright law.

Hollywood’s position on the issue is at odds with the advance of technology, as well as public opinion, and will ultimately result in limited control over their products and less money in their pockets.  

The court’s decision brings to mind the lawsuit against online music service, Napster. Aside from obvious parallels, there is another common denominator at play; Judge Patel ruled in favor of the plaintiff in the Napster case as well.

Ken Blackwell wrote an article on the Big Hollywood blog highlighting the movie industry's backward position on the issue.

“As I noted months ago, the irony is that by opposing RealDVD, the movie industry seems to be operating against its own long-term self-interest. As consumers desire more freedoms and options, the most successful companies are embracing the societal changes. Meanwhile, the movie industry has adopted a very un-progressive posture and is hunkering down and simply suing the innovators.”

The movie industry may have won an injunction but the overall fight was lost with the advent of this technology. The genie is out of the bottle and Hollywood is far better off embracing a company like RealDVD, one that respected copyright use restrictions, rather than bolstering real piracy and losing the battle of public opinion.