# DVD Ripping Legality and Current Case Law? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 16, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-ripping-legality-and-current-case-law/521501 "2009-12-16T18:45:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![clnilsen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecccb3/32.png) [@clnilsen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clnilsen)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-ripping-legality-and-current-case-law/521501/1 "2009-12-16T18:45:27Z")
\*Just a note out of the gate: I don’t want to know how to do this, what software is best or any know about any other nefarious deed. \* In another thread about DVD ripping/backup, there was the mention about this being illegal. Last I had heard was that the DCMA and current US copyright law was in direct conflict about fair use vs. the selling of software that cracks encryption. Looking at wiki for the [DVD Decrypter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD_Decrypter) software there is this nugget: > [@](#): > > In the noted “321” case, Federal District Judge Susan Illston, of the Northern District of California,[5] ruled that the backup copies made with software such as DVD Decrypter are in fact legal but that distribution of the software used to make them is illegal. As of the date of this revision, neither the US Supreme Court nor the US Congress has taken definitive action on the matter. Now, going back to my civics class, it seems like this is a classic situation for the Supreme Court to be sorting out. I know they can’t make a ruling without a case being brought before them first. Finally, I know it takes YEARS for a case to work it’s way through the court system. So, I wonder - is there any current cases on the radar that are working the courts to address this issue? Seems like there would be more than a few of these types of cases out there. Anyone knowledgeable on the general situation regarding this?