Though Real fired the first shot, the empire has struck back, with the Motion Picture Association of America filing a lawsuit against Real, claiming, as expected, that RealDVD violates the DMCA by circumventing the encryption system present on all DVDs. While the issue is hammered out, the court has ordered RealDVD sales suspended and the software taken offline until various filings can be reviewed.

A visit to the RealDVD website shows that the software has been taken down, with a note in place of the download link reading "RealDVD is currently unavailable." The court is scheduled to make a ruling on Tuesday as to whether sales can be resumed in advance of the full trial or whether it will have to remain offline until then.

It's anyone's guess which way things will go, but the trial is set to be held in the Northern California district instead of in L.A., so Real can at least expect a less Hollywood-friendly environment than it would otherwise face in the studios' backyard.

As a side note, if you were one of the ten people who emailed me to receive a free copy of the software and you have not already downloaded it, you will be unable to obtain a copy until after the legal mess is resolved (and, obviously, only if it is decided in Real's favor).

On another side note, at least the girl on the RealDVD website still looks pretty happy despite all of this.

LINK: Court Temporarily Shuts Down RealDVD