Originally Posted by
Slysoft
Legal issues
Advertising, sale, and lending of AnyDVD is outlawed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Western Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
(but possession and use on personally owned media is not), as it removes copy prevention from DVDs. The Heise news portal
Heinz Heise
Heinz Heise is a German publishing house. It was created in Hanover in 1949 as an address and telephone directory publisher, then later expanded to include magazines and loose leaf collections. In 2001, the company was divided into separate enterprises, all of which came under the umbrella of their...
was sued by the record industry for linking to SlySoft's website in a news report. The publisher subsequently counter sued with claims of violation of their constitutionally guaranteed freedom of the press and has as of April 2007 lost two appeal proceedings. The German Federal Constitutional Court
Federal Constitutional Court of Germany
The Federal Constitutional Court is a special court established by the Grundgesetz, the German basic law...
has decided not to rule on Heise's appeal for the time being because remedies in the ordinary courts had not been exhausted.
The legal status of AnyDVD in other countries is unclear.