Hollywood's lawsuit against RealNetworks over piracy is just a smokescreen, according to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

It claims that the big idea behind the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) filing a copyright suit against RealNetworks and is trying to halt the sale of the RealDVD software is to make sure the company, and anyone else wishing to build movie players, gets Hollywood's permission.

Fred von Lohmann, EFF's senior attorney, said the case has nothing to do with piracy and everything to do with controlling innovation. Hollywood accused RealNetworks in a copyright suit of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and breaching its contract with the DVD Copy Control Association, the group that oversees the licenses that manufacturers need to build DVD players.

Writing in his blog, von Lohmann said that Hollywood could not possibly believe that the $30, DRM-hobbled RealDVD software represents a piracy threat.  He said the studios were using the lawsuit to "send a message about what happens to those who innovate without permission in a post-DMCA world."

The licensing agreements tech firms are required to sign before making movie players are a means of control, said von Lohmann. The licenses "define what the devices can and can't do thereby protecting Hollywood business models from disruptive innovation," he said.

More here.