In RealNetworks Inc. et al. v. DVD Copy Control Association Inc. et al., Northern District of California Judge Marilyn Hall Patel tossed RealNetworks Inc.’s claims that several movie studios ran afoul of U.S. antitrust law by conspiring to block the company’s DVD-copying application in favor of their own product. The judge found that RealNetworks lacked antitrust standing because it had not demonstrated that it suffered any harm as a result of the alleged anti-competitive conduct. The court rejected RealNetwork’s claims that it suffered through the studios’ refusal to license the copying of the DVDs, noting that the company already conceded that it did not think it needed such a license before going to the market. The court also pointed out that even if RealNetworks would have been able to show injury, the complaint would have been dismissed anyway as improperly pled due to plaintiff’s failure to make a number of allegations that would be necessary to sustain the Sherman Act claims.
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