321 Studios v. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Inc.

District Court, N.D. California
307 F. Supp. 2d 1085 (2004)
ELI5:

Sections

Rule of Law:

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The Legal Principle

This section distills the key legal rule established or applied by the court—the one-liner you'll want to remember for exams.

Facts:

  • The defendant motion picture studios produce and distribute films on Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), many of which are protected by an encryption technology called the Content Scramble System (CSS).
  • CSS is a technological measure that controls access to the content on DVDs; it requires a licensed electronic 'key' to decrypt and play the movie.
  • Plaintiff 321 Studios, LLC markets and sells software products, including DVD-X COPY.
  • DVD-X COPY allows a user to read the data on a CSS-encrypted DVD, decrypt it using a publicly available CSS 'player key' and algorithms, and create an identical backup copy of the DVD.
  • 321 Studios' software functions on original DVDs that the user has already purchased.
  • 321 Studios markets its software for the purpose of creating backup copies of DVDs, including those protected by CSS.

Procedural Posture:

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How It Got Here

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Issue:

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Legal Question at Stake

This section breaks down the central legal question the court had to answer, written in plain language so you can quickly grasp what's being decided.

Opinions:

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Majority, Concurrences & Dissents

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Analysis:

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Why This Case Matters

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