Sony CD Copy Protection Case Settled

A judge has approved a final settlement for the Sony XCP and MediaMax copy-protection fiasco: customers get refunds or free downloads.

Federal judge Naomi Reice Buchwald has given final approval to a settlement of a class action lawsuit brought against Sony BMG regarding the XCP and MediaMax copy protection technologies the company shipped on several million music CDs. Under the terms of the settlement, customers who purchased a CD with the XCP copy protection software can receive a replacement disk without the copy-protection software embedded in it; they are also eligible for $7.50 cash and one free album download, or three free album downloads. Customers with CD’s containing the MediaMax copy protection technology are eligible for free downloads only.

The settlement largely follows terms outlined in December, 2005. According to court documents, some 27 Sony BMG music titles shipped with MediaMax copy protection software embedded; another 52 titles contained XCP software. Sony BMG has published a list of affected titles; the total number of disks with one of the copy protection software schemes installed approaches 30 million.

The settlement may end a public relations fiasco for Sony BMG, which suffered enormous criticism, consumer outrage, and scrutiny for including the copy protection technologies on selected audio CD titles. Sony BMG did not clearly disclose the software’s presence or purpose, and did not provide adequate mechanisms to uninstall the software; further, the copy protection technologies exposed users to security risks, could disable functions of their computers, and (in the case of MediaMax) even transmitted information about user activity back to its developer. Sony BMG further bungled matters by repeatedly downplaying the situation, even as furor and security issues spiraled out of control. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a party to the suit, has published information about the litigation and the copy protection technologies.