In a closely watched case about DVD hacking the California state Supreme Court has ruled that the Internet's reach does not erase jurisdictional boundaries.
The court threw out a lawsuit filed by the DVD Copy Control Association, which had accused Texas resident Matthew Pavlovich of publishing trade secrets. Pavlovich allegedly posted a program on his website that enabled users to bypass copy protections on DVDs.
In a split ruling, the court found that in order for a California business to sue an out-of-state person or entity in state court, it must prove that the person or entity "expressly aimed" harm at the California company. |
"The record fails to show that Pavlovich expressly aimed his tortious conduct at or intentionally targeted California," Justice Janice Rogers Brown wrote in the decision.
The ruling was seen as a blow to the movie industry's bid to reel in hackers, since it may spill over into other cases involving the piracy or illegal sale of movies on the Internet.
Pavlovich's tool was released in 1999 and according to him the goal was to make it easier for Linux-based DVD players to be used to play popular movies. Read the complete article here.
Source: E-Commerce News
