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You'll have to keep dusting off those stacks and shelves of DVDs for the foreseeable future--and maybe forever.

Kaleidescape, a company that has long sought to help consumers create copies of their DVDs and store the digital files to a media server, has lost another legal battle.

A prototype of RealNetworks' Facet, the DVD player that copied and stored digital movies, but was effectively killed in 2010 following a court fight with the DVD CCA.

(Credit: Greg Sandoval/CNET)

In 2004, the DVD Copy Control Association (DVD CCA) sued Kaleidescape. That group, which includes all the major Hollywood studios and some consumer electronics companies, licenses the anticopying protections on DVDs and Blu-ray discs.

The DVD CCA accused Kaleidescape of violating the terms of the CCA license when it began releasing servers that copied DVDs. Kaleidescape has argued there's nothing in the DVD CCA's contract that prohibits anything that the company's media servers do.

But according to a story published by Cepro.com, on January 9 a Superior Court judge in Santa Clara, Calif., issued a tentative ruling in favor of the DVD CCA. Kaleidescape's managers say they will appeal and continue their eight-year court fight. Read Cepro.com's story for all the legal ins and outs.

What's most interesting about this prolonged legal battle is that the two sides appear to be fighting over a format that might be obsolete by the time their conflict is resolved. DVD sales have been in decline for years as Web-streaming services, such as those offered by Netflix, HBO Go and Amazon, grow in popularity.

The idea of buying another set-top box just to house DVDs we collected and never got around to watching sounds like a waste of time. But I'm probably getting ahead of myself again. My studio sources chafe when I write that the DVD is dead and they remind me that while home-video revenues are declining, they are still significant.

Fair enough. But I've always argued that if the studios wanted to milk the DVD for as long as they could, why not give consumers a better way to store and handle their discs?

Four years ago, RealNetworks sought to create a server similar to Kaleidescape's. The box, called Facet, would have used technology similar to RealDVD, the company's DVD-ripping software, to enable users to copy their discs. The technology was supposed to lock up the movies within the box so they couldn't be shared illegally. It was slick.

RealNetworks founder Rob Glaser demonstrated the device in court. With a single push of a button, a user could hop from scene to scene or movie to movie.

But the DVD CCA prevailed in 2010 over RealNetworks in a court case similar to Kaleidescape's. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a group that advocates for Internet users and tech companies, was supportive of Kaleidescape and RealNetworks and argued that the DVD CCA's opposition was an attempt to keep consumers from making copies under fair use and force them to back up their films by buying additional copies.

On the contrary, said DVD CCA. They argued that they were making movies and TV shows easier to access than ever but they would "vigorously defend our right to stop companies from bringing products to market that mislead consumers and clearly violate the law."

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Courts have likely killed media servers that copy DVDs

19-12-2011 18:19 http://www.CherysOnlineGamePlan.com 5 Top Social Networking Sites / Why You Should Use Them Using Social Networking sites can help you generate qualified leads for your home based business, I have set some guidelines below you to get some ideas to help you get started. Facebook is the most popular social networking site where you can connect with friends and family. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, download and look at others photo's, it is a great way to meet new friends. They even have a chat feature you can use while on the site. Facebook also allows users to create pages for businesses, products, or brands. You can create your Facebook fan page to promote yourself, your home based business or just about anything of interest to you and others. Twitter is a micro blogging site, which means people can get there ideas out without spending much time doing it. Twitter limits answers to 140 characters. A nice feature with twitter is that you can get tweets on you computer or your mobile phone. If you have a home based business you can put your link into your message, this is an excellent way to get free exposure for yourself, especially if you have a few followers. Myspace is loosing popularity but it is still a great place to meet new friends. They have enabled you to integrate your activity to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, to attract and show others that you are still on myspace. You can share messages, photo's, promote movies, listen to music and write blogs on ...

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5 Top Social Networking Sites / Why You Should Use Them - Video

30-01-2012 17:09 Forgot to de-friend your wife on Facebook while posting vacation shots of your mistress? Her divorce lawyer will be thrilled. Oversharing on social networks has led to an overabundance of evidence in divorce cases. The American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers says 81 percent of its members have used or faced evidence plucked from Facebook, MySpace, Twitter and other social networking sites, including YouTube and LinkedIn, over the last five years. "Oh, I've had some fun ones," said Linda Lea Viken, president-elect of the 1600-member group. "It's very, very common in my new cases." Facebook is the unrivaled leader for turning virtual reality into real-life divorce drama, Viken said. Sixty-six percent of the lawyers surveyed cited Facebook foibles as the source of online evidence, she said. MySpace followed with 15 percent, followed by Twitter at 5 percent. About one in five adults uses Facebook for flirting, according to a 2008 report by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. But it's not just kissy pix with the manstress or mistress that show up as evidence. Think of Dad forcing son to de-friend mom, bolstering her alienation of affection claim against him. "This sort of evidence has gone from nothing to a large percentage of my cases coming in, and it's pretty darn easy," Viken said. "It's like, `Are you kidding me?'" Neither Viken, in Rapid City, SD, nor other divorce attorneys would besmirch the attorney-client privilege by revealing the identities of clients, but ...

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Judge Eugene Hyman "Facebook and Family Law" - Video

01-02-2012 20:20 Forbes editors on what you need to know about the social networking giant's bottom line. Forbes Markets: http://www.forbes.com The Tech Trade: blogs.forbes.com Social Markets: blogs.forbes.com

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Holes In Facebook's IPO Filing - Video

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, 27, delivers a keynote speech during a conference in September. (Kimihiro Hoshino, Agence France-Presse)

MENLO PARK, calif. — In a milestone for one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies, Facebook on Wednesday filed papers announcing a $5 billion initial public offering of stock in the world's biggest social-networking business.

The stated size of the offering is smaller than expected, after weeks of speculation by analysts and industry observers who predicted Facebook might seek up to $10 billion. But documents indicated the figure is preliminary; the company could revise the numbers as it prepares to begin selling stock this spring.

With the filing of its initial prospectus, stating that it intends to trade under the symbol FB, Facebook is officially launching Silicon Valley's most widely anticipated stock offering in recent years. For the Menlo Park, Calif., company and 27-year-old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, it represents an official transition from wildly successful startup to corporate giant.

Industry sources expect the stock offering will set Facebook's overall value at $75 billion to $100 billion. The papers filed Wednesday do not specify a price or how many shares are being offered, although they indicate the company will have two classes of shares. The company is expected to release those numbers in coming weeks.

But the filing provides a glimpse into Facebook's operations and finances, which the privately held company has closely guarded until now. For example, the company disclosed it earned $1 billion in profit on $3.7 billion in revenue last year, after sales rose 88 percent from 2010.

Facebook first turned a profit in 2009, when it earned $229 million on $777 million in sales, according to the filing. And the company is not hurting for cash. At the end of 2011, Facebook had $3.9 billion in cash and marketable securities, up from $1.8 billion at the end of 2010.

Zuckerberg, who serves as chief executive, owns 28.2 percent of Facebook — a share that is significantly higher than previous reports have indicated.

Given the company's high profile and profitability, however, his compensation was relatively modest last year: It totaled $1.5 million, which includes the $692,679 it cost Facebook for Zuckerberg and his friends and family to fly on a chartered airplane. Facebook paid Zuckerberg $483,333 in salary last year and gave him a $220,500 bonus.

At the end of 2011, Facebook had 845 million users who accessed the site at least once a month and 483 million users who visited on a daily basis.

Zuckerberg highlighted that growth in a letter to potential investors, in which he vowed "Facebook was not originally created to be a company. It was built to accomplish a social mission — to make the world more open and connected."

While there have been larger IPOs in the tech industry, an initial offering of $5 billion would still outrank any other Internet-based company's debut, including Google's initial offering in 2004 of nearly $1.7 billion. Morgan Stanley was listed as the lead underwriter of the stock offering, after beating out Goldman Sachs for the lucrative fees that go with the position. Goldman and several other firms will also participate, however.

The IPO is expected to create between 500 and 1,000 millionaires among Facebook employees with company stock.

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Social-networking giant Facebook files papers for $5 billion IPO this spring