Jari Ketola
22 Dec 2003 11:00
Jon Lech Johansen, aka DVD-Jon was acquitted of all charges by the appeals court in Oslo, Norway. The appeals court upheld the earlier ruling in which Johansen was also found not quilty of the alleged copyright violations.
The ruling was now made by three professional judges backed up by four laymen. Two of the layman members were IT professionals with technical expertise relevant to the case. The ruling came surprisingly quickly -- it even managed to surprise Johansen's own lawyer.
The Norwegian white-collar crime unit, Økokrim is carefully evaluating the most recent verdict before deciding whether or not to appeal to Norwegian Supreme Court. Since Johansen has already been cleared of all charges twice, it will take quite a bit of convincing from the prosecutors to get a quilty verdict from the judges.
The Motion Picture Associaton of America issued a statement saying it was disappointed by the ruling of the Olso appeals court.
Source:
Aftenposten