For whom these vile shackles, These long-prepared irons?
April 25, 2005 4:08 AM   Subscribe

Vive la Revolution. Are DVD Copy Protection technologies now illegal in France? (via techdirt).
posted by seanyboy (5 comments total)
 
And this in the face of the "Double Disc" with audio on one side and DVD on the other. So now we don't just get to listen to Bruce Springsteen's downbeat sound, we get to see it too.
posted by Doohickie at 4:17 AM on April 25, 2005


It sounds as though it was Betamax case all over again - but I guess this guy wasn't handy or knowledgeable enough with the A/V equipment to figure out a way to work around the copy protections.

That's what you get, I guess, if you try to tape a DVD at your Mom's place over the holidays. Hacker teenagers are laughing, somewhere in France.
posted by vhsiv at 4:26 AM on April 25, 2005


I think this only applied to the one movie.
posted by null terminated at 5:39 AM on April 25, 2005


Les Films Alain Sarde and Studio Canal have one month to unblock their DVDs.
The article doesn't clearly say if this applies simply to Mulholland drive or to all DVDs. If the latter, then it's an interesting development. I don't believe that the DVD companies can block me from buying DVDs from France. (E.U policy and all that) so if this ruling applies to all DVDs, then the only thing stopping me from only buying non-copy-protected films is the possibility that the Studios will spend time making sure that the only language on French Sold Films is French. IANAL, but I hope this ruling could impact the copy-protection on all DVDs sold in the EU.
posted by seanyboy at 5:52 AM on April 25, 2005


>the only thing stopping me from only buying non-copy-protected films is the possibility that the Studios will spend time making sure that the only language on French Sold Films is French.

But that time will cost money, quite a bit of money. I guess if it's unique to France it's worth the hassle.

On the other hand, I know quite a few French people who would be mightily pissed if their English language produced DVD was dubbed and only available that way. The original version with French subtitles is so common and preferred by many.
posted by gsb at 7:25 AM on April 25, 2005


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