It’s as sure as the day is long: Hollywood will never, ever learn, and will never, ever embrace technology in any meaningful way. The latest case involves RealNetwork, developer of the admittedly awful RealPlayer. It just officially launched its RealDVD DVD copier today, and there’s already lawsuits flying. Go figure.

It’s like this: RealNetworks developed RealDVD, an easy-to-use DVD copier for Windows. If all you’re looking to do is pop a DVD of Goodfellas into your laptop in anticipation of a long flight, click “copy” then toss the disc, RealDVD actually isn’t too bad. It does cost $30, but its ease of use cannot be denied. RealNetworks went above and beyond the call of duty by maintaining the Hollywood-mandated DVD copy protection, and by including another form of copy protection. RealNetworks then thinks to itself, “OK, we’ve kept in Hollywood’s copy protection and added another layer. Surely that must be enough.”

Only it’s not.

RealNetworks was forced into court today in order to get a judge to declare RealDVD 100 percent legal. The program doesn’t break any laws, nor does it circumvent any copy protection. Still, RealNetworks needed to head into court to prevent the Hollywood studios from suing its creation out of existence.

All of this shows Hollywood’s utter stupidity. Here’s a company, RealNetworks, that isn’t in the business of creating commercial products with an eye on breaking the law. Why, then, threaten lawsuits to shut RealDVD down? If nothing else the program prolongs the life of DVDs as a genuine revenue stream.

Who knows, when the last bank collapses, the last thing on our minds will be whether or not we can copy DVDs, legally or otherwise, to our computers.

ealNetworks Files Suit Against Hollywood Studios to Protect Consumers’ Fair-Use Rights With RealDVD [PR Newswire]