MUMBAI: A federal judge barred RealNetworks Inc. from selling a device that allows consumers to copy DVDs to their computer hard drives, pending a full trial.

Major Hollywood studios like Walt Disney, Sony Corp. and Universal Studios, among others, filed a suit against RealNetworks last year, saying its RealDVD device is an illegal pirating tool.

The Hollywood studios contend that RealDVD would keep consumers from paying retail for movies on DVD that could be rented cheaply, copied and returned.

However, RealNetworks said its product legally meets growing consumer demand to convert their DVDs to digital form for convenient storage and viewing.

The Judge ruled in favor of the movie studios in granting a preliminary injunction against RealDVD, saying that the technology would allow consumers renting and buying DVDs to violate copyright laws.

Motion Pictures Association of America chairman and CEO Dan Glickman said, "The ruling affirms what we have known all along: RealNetworks took a license to build a DVD-player and instead made an illegal DVD-copier. This is a victory for the creators and producers of motion pictures and television shows and for the rule of law in our digital economy."

In a statement, RealNetworks said, "We have just received the Judge’s detailed ruling and are reviewing it. After we have done so fully, we’ll determine our course of action and will have more to say at that time."