RealNetworks maintains its RealDVD software is a who can copy DVDs to a laptop for easy disc-free playback. The software, RealNetworks points out, doesn't strip any copy protection from the DVD.

Leading movie studios, represented by the Motion Pictures Association of America, counter RealNetworks software violates the terms of a licensing agreement covering the digital-rights-management protocols used by DVDs. It asserts RealDVD violates the (DMCA) because it bypasses the copy protection built into DVDs.

Late last year seven major Hollywood studios against RealNetworks seeking a permanent ban on sales of RealDVD. The court granted lead plaintiff Universal Pictures a of RealDVD until at least this month's court proceedings. In a suit filed the same week last year RealNetworks also submitted a lawsuit to the San Francisco court seeking a declaratory judgment permitting it to sell RealDVD.

The chief concern Hollywood has with RealDVD is that the software will allow people to "" DVDs from services such as Netflix without actually paying for a movies they keep. Hollywood sees services like RealDVD as a major threat to the billions in revenue earned through DVD sales.

RealNetworks refutes the MPAA's chief complaint that it bypasses, or cracks, DVD copy protection called CSS. It also denies any violation of the DMCA because RealNetworks licenses the CSS encryption. RealNetworks adds it preserves the DVD's CSS copy protection because its RealDVD program makes an exact copy of the DVD placing an exact image of the disc on the customer's computer hard drive - CSS protection and all.