The US District Court for the Central District of California issued a permanent injunction that prohibits China-based DVD player manufacturer Gowell Electronics Ltd. from violating any term of the Content Scramble System (CSS) license agreement.

In June, MPAA member companies had brought a breach of contract against Gowell, which constituted the basis for the ruling. The court ruled that the plaintiffs in the case are allowed to review and test any new or re-engineered products that incorporate the CSS technology before going to market, MPAA said.

CSS technology is a security measure that controls unauthorized access to and copying of copyrighted content on DVDs. The CSS license mandates the content protection that enables film studios to provide consumers with more than 84,000 DVD titles, including 12,000 new titles last year alone.
This is the ninth case in which a court has issued a permanent injunction banning future violations of the CSS license.

The motion picture industry is said to be losing more than $11 billion annually to hard goods piracy including bootlegging and illegal copying, according to MPAA.

Story filed 03.11.08