The judge in San Francisco who is mulling over the 321 Studios case against the movie industry over their DVD copying software appeared to be trying to see both sides of the argument today.

On some issues, such as whether the software is in violation of the DMCA, she seemed to be quite convinced that the software did, since it was a circumvention device, and that is all that is necessary to be in violation.

However, on the legality of the DMCA, she seemed to be taking a more contemplative approach. She raised questions to the US attorney about whether the DMCA violated fair use provisions by locking up copyrighted works behind encryption that was illegal to break, even after the expiration of the copyrights on said works.

The CNET article is an interesting read.