Petteri Pyyny
28 May 2003 14:32
Out of the many so-called DeCSS court cases going on at the moment, one of the oldest ones is now heading to California Supreme Court. The case between DVD-CCA (association that licenses CSS encryption mechanism to DVD manufacturers) and California resident Andrew Bunner relates to the fact that Bunner distributed DeCSS code on his website.
DVD-CCA sued hundreds of people in late 1999, including Mr. Bunner, for disclosing "trade secrets". Among those who were sued originally, were guys who printed DeCSS code on T-shirts, caps, etc. Earlier this year, U.S. Supreme Court upheld California Supreme Court's decision that one of the other people sued by DVD-CCA, Matthew Pavlovich, can't be sued in California because he is actually a Texas resident.
In Mr. Bunner's case, lower court granted a preliminary injunction that prevented him from distributing the code. However, appeals court held this decision and now the case is headed to California Supreme Court. The court date is set to tomorrow, 29th of May.
Source: EFF