The issues surrounding DVD ripping are downright dumbfounding.

What’s legal and what isn’t? Who is potentially liable for copyright offenses – manufacturers, installers, end users?

Is it better to have a CSS (Content Scramble System) license from the DVD CCA (Copy Control Association), or does that just open you up to litigation as in the case of RealNetworks and Kaleidescape?

If the DVD CCA can’t catch you, can you be prosecuted under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act?

Can manufacturers create DVD-ripping solutions, as long as they keep the copyright “wrapper” intact? What if their solutions prohibit transferring protected content off of their proprietary network? Does that help their cause?

Is “ripping” a DVD the same as “archiving” it?

Realizing the tremendous benefits of disk-less movie libraries, a slew of manufacturers and software providers are testing the legal waters when it comes to storing protecting DVDs on a hard drive.

How do manufacturers justify their DVD servers?
We’ve collected FAQs from a variety of vendors. In their own words, here’s what they have to say about copyright and licensing.

• Kaleidescape - Kaleidescape Servers
• RealNetworks - RealDVD
• ReQuest - Intelligent Media Client (ICM)
• Fusion Research - Fusion Media Servers
• Xperinet - MIRV Server
• Escient - Vision Server
• Axonix - MediaMax
• Fuze Media - Fuze One

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Julie Jacobson - Editor, Electronic House; Editor-at-large, CE Pro

Julie Jacobson is editor of Electronic House and editor-at-large for CE Pro magazine, the trade magazine for home technology. She co-founded parent company EH Publishing in 1994.