## Facts

- 321 Studios marketed and sold products intended to copy DVDs, including DVD Copy Plus and DVD X Copy.
- Many commercial DVDs contained motion pictures encrypted with the Content Scramble System (CSS), a technological measure controlling access to the copyrighted content.
- DVD X Copy used CSS keys to decrypt CSS-protected DVDs so the movie data could be copied to a computer and then burned to a DVD.
- DVD Copy Plus packaged instructions and software enabling users to make copies from DVDs, including CSS-protected DVDs.
- Major motion picture studios owning copyrights in the movies on DVDs alleged the products were designed and marketed to bypass CSS.
- 321 Studios sought declaratory relief that distributing its products did not violate the DMCA, or alternatively that the relevant DMCA provisions were unconstitutional.
- The studios counterclaimed under the DMCA and moved for partial summary judgment on DMCA liability; the United States intervened due to the constitutional challenge.

## Issues

1. Whether distributing DVD Copy Plus and DVD X Copy constituted trafficking in circumvention technology prohibited by 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2) and related provisions.
2. Whether potential fair uses or other noninfringing end-user copying immunized 321 Studios from DMCA anti-trafficking liability.
3. Whether the DMCA anti-circumvention provisions, as applied to 321 Studios’ products, exceeded Congress’s powers, were unconstitutionally vague, or violated the First Amendment.

## Decision

- The court granted the studios’ motion for partial summary judgment on DMCA liability.
- The court held that 321 Studios’ products constituted technologies primarily designed to circumvent CSS and therefore violated § 1201(a)(2).
- The court rejected 321 Studios’ argument that fair use or substantial noninfringing uses defeated DMCA anti-trafficking liability.
- The court upheld the challenged DMCA provisions against enumerated-powers, vagueness, and First Amendment challenges.
- The court entered injunctive relief barring 321 Studios from manufacturing, distributing, or otherwise trafficking in DVD circumvention software.

## Legal Principles

- A party violates 17 U.S.C. § 1201(a)(2) by trafficking in technology that is primarily designed to circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a copyrighted work, has only limited commercially significant non-circumvention uses, or is marketed for circumvention.
- DMCA anti-trafficking liability focuses on circumvention tools and access-control bypassing, independent of whether particular downstream copying would qualify as fair use.
- Authorized decryption within a licensed playback system is treated differently from distribution of independent tools that bypass access controls without the copyright owner’s authorization.
- DMCA § 1201 may be applied as a content-neutral regulation directed at circumvention conduct and the functional aspects of code; incidental burdens on expression may be justified by the governmental interest in protecting access controls against digital piracy.
- The statute’s core terms (including “circumvent,” “effectively controls access,” and “primarily designed”) provide sufficient notice to defeat a vagueness challenge, and § 1201 falls within Congress’s copyright authority.

## Conclusion

The court held that 321 Studios’ DVD-copying products unlawfully trafficked in CSS-circumvention technology under the DMCA, that alleged fair-use copying by customers did not excuse trafficking, and that the DMCA’s anti-circumvention framework was constitutional as applied; the court therefore granted partial summary judgment for the studios and enjoined further distribution of DVD circumvention software.


321 Studios v. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Studios, Inc., 307 F. Supp. 2d 1085 (N.D. Cal. 2004)