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Managing managed-copy - February 5, 2008

If there's anyone out there who still cares, the DVD Copy Control Association is convening again this week in Los Angeles to discuss "managed-copy," the already much chewed-over plan to let consumers copy their DVDs to a hard drive or portable device under certain carefully controlled conditions. When last heard from, a proposed managed-copy amendment to the license governing the use of the Content Scramble System on DVDs was pulled  from consideration by the DVD-CCA Copy Protection Advisory Committee (CPAC) over fears that it might bring antitrust litigation down on the organization. Rather than risk a vote, CPAC punted the issue to the CSS Innovations Committee, in hopes that the other committee might come up with a new way to skin the cat.

The CSS Innovations Committee, chaired by Sonic Solutions senior VP (and 2007 ContentAgenda Setter) Jim Taylor is credited with coming up with the technology and hammering out the deal for "managed recording," which will enable DVD manufacturing on demand. No formal managed-copy amendment is on the table for this week's meeting. Instead, the committee will lead a discussion of various ways and means to enable managed copying.

Media Wonk is giving no better than even odds on whether managed-copy with CSS will ever be formally adopted. Some studios are already striking out on their own, looking for different ways to give consumers access to copy-protected digital files in conjunction with a DVD purchase, without waiting for DVD-CCA to sanction it. Fox is leading the charge, with 40 DVD releases slated for 2008 that will include a digital copy along with the disc suitable for transferring to iPods, but Warner has also experimented with a disc-and-digital offer.

Other studios remain interested in managed-copy using CSS, however, so the conversations go on within DVD-CCA. If the proposal that comes out of the latest round of discussions is a straight managed-copy amendment, the studios are likely to find at least some support for the idea within the IT industry. If they continue to insist, as they have before, on an amendment targeting Kaleidescape Systems, however, all bets are probably off.



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