I'm not so sure the MPAA could win a case where pure archival backups would be made illegal.
USC Title 17, Chapter 12 (The DMCA), Section 1201:
Paragraph (c)(1):
Quote:
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Nothing in this section shall affect rights, remedies, limitations, or defenses to copyright infringement, including fair use, under this title.
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With that paragraph, the DMCA makes a specific exception for fair use as defined by previous copyright law. If copyright law's provision for fair use allows you to make a backup of a DVD, the DMCA specifically says that is allowed.
Now, will this paragraph extend to actually allow that in practice? A court will have to decide.
But making DVD backups illegal is not going to be a cakewalk for the MPAA. Due to that paragraph, the MPAA will have to prove that the contents of the DVD are copyrighted in such a way that fair use isn't allowed.