Desperate to curb DVD piracy, a coalition of motion picture and high-tech heavyweights sued 71 individuals and web sites on December 28, 1999, for circulating a program online that lets people crack the security on the discs to make unauthorized copies of movies.

The lawsuit was filed in Santa Clara County Superior Court in California by the DVD Copy Control Association. The group was formed in December of last year by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the Business Software Alliance and the Electronic Industries Alliance to license out the DVD Content Scrambling System--a technology used by all major U.S. movie studios to prevent the piracy of DVD versions of hundreds of copyrighted works.

One day after the complaint was filed Judge Elfving rejected the industry's request for a temporary restraining order.

More Information

DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. McLaughlin, et al. Order

DVD Copy Control Association, Inc. v. McLaughlin, et al. Complaint