Hollywood has locked horns with the technology industry over who will control digital entertainment and how it is watched.
The six big film studios say a program called RealDVD violates copyright.
This week a San Francisco court could decide if DVD users can make personal backups the way people do with audio.
"The consumer should have the same fair use rights to copy DVDs just as they have for the last decade with music," said Bill Hankes of RealDVD.
RealDVD, which is made by RealNetworks, allows DVD owners to make digital copies of their discs onto a computer or laptop hard drive for their own personal use without having to pay extra.
Downloadable versions of many movies are available online, and some studios let users make a digital copy of a movie onto a computer by paying more for an "expanded edition" of a DVD.
Many believe this means the consumer is being made to pay twice.
Kevin Hunt who writes the Electronic Jungle column for the Baltimore Sun said: "For 11 years, since the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) made it illegal to bypass any digital rights management protection system, the movie and music industries have fought a war ostensibly against piracy.
"In reality, it has been a war against the consumer, designed to make people pay more than once for the same song or album or movie."
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