Kaleidescape’s been fighting a court battle to keep its DVD-server business alive nearly since its inception back in 2001. The company started out as a $50,000+ DVD server company that aimed its wares at the high-end HomeAV market (i.e., CEDIA) and even added Blu-ray (and HD-DVD way back when) to its ripping and storing services so that anyone can serve up their DVDs whenever they wanted across a home network or in a home theater.

Not any more, said Judge William J. Monahan of the California Superior Court, who ruled last week in favor of the DVD CCA (DVD Copy Control Association). The court ordered Kaleidescape be enjoined (instructed) to stop immediately. The DVD CCA is a corporation controlled by the six major motion picture studios in concert with the largest consumer electronics and computer companies. The DVD CCA licenses the copy control system used on DVDs.

Kaleidescape’s founder and CEO, Michael Malcolm, said “not so fast” and plans to file an appeal, but in the meantime the company will have to wait out an appeal decision. He went as far as to compare their plight to Apple’s iPod and the Sony Walkman saying, “Imagine a world where Apple wasn’t allowed to build the iPod because Sony wanted a ‘level playing field’ for the Walkman” and called it a “ruling against the consumer.”

Kaleidescape won its first trial in 2007 when Judge Leslie Nichols of the California Superior Court found that Kaleidescape’s products comply with the CSS license agreement. The DVD CCA appealed to the California Court of Appeal, who in 2009 sent the matter back to the California Superior Court for a second trial.

Judge Monahan entered his statement of decision and injunction order on March 8, 2012. Kaleidescape filed its appeal on March 9, 2012. Kaleidescape believes that under California law, the injunction order should not come into effect unless the California Court of Appeal affirms Judge Monahan’s decision. Kaleidescape is confident that when the Court of Appeal reviews the facts of this case, particularly in light of the complete absence of any harm to the DVD CCA or its members, that it will reverse the trial court decision. The appeal process may take one to two years.

Here’s the legal injunction over Kaleidescape: http://www.kaleidescape.com/files/legal/DVDCCA-vs-Kaleidescape-Injunction-Order-20120308.pdf