The lawyers, representing the Motion Picture Association of America and the St. Louis-based 321 Studios, made their points here in the U.S. district courtroom of Judge Susan Illston.

The case began just more than a year ago when 321 Studios sued nine movie companies -- Columbia Pictures, Disney Enterprises, MGM Studios, Pixar, The Saul Zaentz Company, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Time Warner Entertainment, Tristar Pictures and Universal City Studios. The firm requested a declaratory judgment that its DVD-copying software programs, DVD X-Copy and DVD Copy Plus, do not violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

With the exception of Sony and Pixar, the studios subsequently filed a counterclaim, alleging that 321 Studios is trafficking in software that circumvents copyright protection for DVDs -- a practice that the DMCA made illegal.

Arguing for the movie studios on Thursday, Russell Frackman said the case is strictly about software that violates that laws anti-circumvention provisions.

321 Studios argues that there is no evidence that anyone uses its products illegally, but Frackman said that merely trafficking in illegal technology, regardless of how it is used, has harmed his clients. "What users do is not before the court," he said.

Though Illston initially appeared sympathetic to the movie industry’s viewpoint, she questioned whether the anti-piracy Content Scrambling System -- software code that despite the best efforts of the industry is publicly available on the Internet, where people can learn how to bypass it -- really protects anything. "Is there any ambiguity in the word 'effectively'?" she asked.

Frackman said there is not.

Arguing on behalf of 321 Studios, attorney Daralyn Durie sought to draw a more expansive set of issues into the case, saying essentially that free-speech rights permit consumers to make archival copies of DVDs that they have purchased legally, even if they must bypass encryption to make those copies. She said the position of the movie studios “renders fair use [of copyrighted materials] impossible for digitally protected works.”

Durie said DVD players have keys that let users access encrypted content. She compared the act of breaking a DVD’s digital lock with buying an antique chest and having the right to open it to access the contents. "When you buy a DVD, you buy it without restrictions," she said.

"You buy it encrypted," Illston responded.

Durie also noted that movie studios could license DVDs and impose restrictive licensing terms but instead choose to sell them.