Do you remember DeCSS, the software that could descramble the protection on DVD's with just a few simple lines of code ? Well, there are in the news again.
The DVD Copy Control Association Tuesday asked the California Supreme Court to reverse a lower court's decision that blocked the publication of the source code for DeCSS.
The First Amendment was never intended to block courts from preventing the illegal distribution of a program that improperly uses DVD CCA's trade secrets and whose primary purpose is to permit those who use it to violate the copyright laws," he added. "The issues raised by this appeal are extremely important not just for the DVD industry, but for all industries that rely on trade secret laws to protect their businesses." |
The brief is the latest legal maneuver in a drama that has played out for months in courtrooms in California and New York.
In January 2000, a Santa Clara County Superior Court judge imposed a preliminary injunction that ordered defendant Andrew Bunner and numerous other defendants to cease Internet publication of the source code for DeCSS.
On Nov. 1, 2000, the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the lower court's injunction. The court said the temporary injunction was a violation of Bunner's freedom of speech.
In the decision, the appeals court said the DVD CCA's right to protect its economically valuable trade secret, "is not an interest that is 'more fundamental' than the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, or even on equal footing with the national security interests or other vital governmental interests that have previously been found insufficient to justify a prior restraint
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Source: Technews.com
