Page 1 of Maplin kow-tow to Macrovision - who`ll be next ?

Story sourced from DVD Intelligence

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UK retailer dumps devices that skirt DVD protection

Digital rights management and copy protection technology company Macrovision announced February 3 that UK retailer Maplin Electronics has declared that it will fully comply with the European Copyright Directive. The new law, implemented in the UK October 31, 2003, brings into force important new measures prohibiting the sale and advertising of circumvention devices designed to illegally circumvent Macrovision copy protection technologies on DVDs and VHS cassettes that protect the copyrights of content owners and their publishers.

Maplin Electronics, a specialist electronics retailer with 781 stores in the UK, has agreed to destroy its entire stock of video enhancers, which could be used as circumvention devices. Maplin Electronics says it is "fully aware of the recent changes to the copyright law and is keen to comply with this change in the legislation."

As a consequence, Maplin has withdrawn the range of three devices that may be used to circumvent copy protection technologies. David O`Reilly, Commercial Director of Maplin Electronics Ltd, stated: `We acted promptly on this matter because it its important for us to provide our customers with products that do not contravene the law. We have discontinued these items following the change in the legislation, and out of respect for the law.`

`We appreciate Maplin Electronics Ltd`s prompt compliance with the broad scope of the new IP legislation," stated Martin Brooker, European Director of Sales for Macrovision. "As part of an ongoing enforcement programme, Macrovision will be working with retailers to ensure compliance with the law."


Other companies are gonna have to watch out, it seems...

In the meantime, anyone wandering near a skip around the back of a Maplin store would do well to have a prod around ;)

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Clayts, Moderator, DVD Reviewer
UK webmaster for Area 450 the independent Sampo/Maxent DVD site

This item was edited on Sunday, 29th February 2004, 11:42

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In the meantime, anyone wandering near a skip around the back of a Maplin store would do well to have a prod around Thanks for the tip (no pun intended). We have a new Maplins store in Wrexham now. :) Seriously, does this mean it will be more difficult for me to archive to DVD some of my commercial VHS stuff ?

JohnF

I thought it was legal to make yourself a backup copy of DVDs / VHS, so this gave the companies making and selling scarts / boxes that strip out macrovision a genuine reason as to why they should be sold.

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I thought it was legal to make yourself a backup copy of DVDs / VHS

I don`t think that is true - not in the UK, anyway.

However, there are some perfectly legitimate reasons for using these boxes. What if you have a TV or projector which can`t deal with the Macrovision signal? What if you have to loop your DVD player through your VCR, because your TV has no spare SCART sockets? In either of these cases, you`ll need a means of removing the Macrovision protection.

Under the new copyright legislation, it seems that any device which can be used to remove copy protection is illegal, even if there is a legitimate reason to do so.

Mike

i may be wrong, but i`m sure i read somewhere that it`s illegal to copy a protected dvd to your hard drive, even if you own the original :/ so in effect you don`t actually own it even though you have paid for it ? as you are not free to use it as you please.

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in effect you don`t actually own it even though you have paid for it ? That must be the same as PC software then. You only buy a licence to use it, not the actual software itself, which of course is copyrighted (usually).

Edit: Anyways I hope name removed don`t go down the same road as Maplin, as I was thinking of getting one of their gizmos so I can archive some VHS to DVD. Then dispose of the VHS one way or another. Which poses the question am I infringing copyright by doing so ? Whole can of worms this. :/

JohnF

This item was edited on Monday, 1st March 2004, 15:17

It`s the same argument as home duplicating of audio material - technically illegal, but very hard to enforce on the consumer at home.

By cracking down on the sale of MV/CGMS(A) workround devices, you could argue that by the same definition, it should be illegal to sell blank CDs, MiniDiscs and cassettes, and the hardware that is associated with that practice.

Mike raises the most legitimate of concerns - those who need MV removal devices to genuinely watch DVD material due to limited connectivity, most pertinently on projectors. There are devices where you can connect DVD players to RF connectors, but these probably cost a small fortune.

I think as long as there`s a genuine need for these devices, there`ll be on sale (eBay may become the mainstay for such dealing). Of course, for those genuinely wanting back ups of DVDs, the most obvious route would have to be via the PC - software like DVD Shrink and a half-decent DVD burner will be all that`s required - that`ll be far harder to police than hardware devices.

A worrying trend, if other retailers follow the same line as Maplin, but one guesses that the companies whose sole product is such a device will go to any means to sell their wares. And the fact remains, there is always gonna be a demand for such a product.


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Clayts, Moderator, DVD Reviewer
UK webmaster for Area 450 the independent Sampo/Maxent DVD site

:/ I`m confused. Is the device available from name removed suitable for transferring VHS copy protected material to DVD ? Reason I ask is because of this statement in their "blurb"

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This device is primarily designed and manufactured for the purpose of connecting DVD to VCR for the purpose of distributing signal via the RF output for monitoring on Televisions with no Scart input and or Televisions in a remote vicinity and is not designed for facilitating the circumvention of copy protected material.

I thought I`d ask you "techies" before I went ahead and ordered one. Thanks.

JohnF

This item was edited on Sunday, 29th February 2004, 22:41

They`re just (quite rightly) protecting themselves, but I don`t think that`ll be enough for Macrovision, if truth be told. Clearly the device strips out MV and CGMS/A ;)

I`ve blanked out the name of the device - don`t particularly want to drop them in it ;)

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Clayts, Moderator, DVD Reviewer
UK webmaster for Area 450 the independent Sampo/Maxent DVD site

This item was edited on Sunday, 29th February 2004, 22:40

With this recent DeCSS case against the author of the utility, didn`t the judge state that the author did nothing wrong in wanting to back up a copy of any DVD he owned to his HD? Which implies that under the EU Copyright Directive, that is allowed?

Maybe the difference relates to the selling of equipment to circumvent copy protection, although 321 Studios are arguing in the UK (after losing in the US) that region encoding isn`t copy protection, in which case DVDs have none.

I think these days, in the world of ever cheaper DVD-R consumables, Macrovision is becoming increasingly irrelevant anyway.

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