RealNetworks is probably the most visible company to come out with a DVD ripping utility. There are dozens, if not hundreds of other applications that let you copy the data from DVDs to your hard drive. But being high profile is sometimes all it takes to land yourself in court -- which is exactly where RealNetworks has found itself, even though the company's RealDVD software includes DRM restrictions that keep you from sharing ripped movies with your friends.

RealNetworks launched RealDVD last fall, but it was only on sale for a brief period before it got sued into partial oblivion by groups representing movie studios. Now the court trial is set to begin.

One interesting tidbit is that the RealDVD software, which lets you rip movies to your hard drive, is just the tip of the iceberg. The New York Times reports that RealNetworks has developed an application for Linux-based set top boxes like DVD players that would let you insert DVDs and save movies to a hard drive for later viewing without the use of a computer. If RealNetworks wins the case, you could see this feature showing up on set top boxes that would sell for under $300.