[Patents] US court says publishing DeCSS is legal

[Bernard Lang <Bernard.Lang@inria.fr> (Bernard Lang)]

This concerns DeCSS ... based on first amendment

The article in San Jose Mercury News is actually inaccurate, since it
states wrongly that CSS is used to prevent DVD copying.  One can copy
without decoding.

DVD LAW SUIT: FREE SPEECH VS. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS
 A federal court of appeals in San Jose, California, has reached a
decision that rejects the DVD industry's claim that it is illegal for
Web sites to distribute "reverse engineered" software that makes it
possible to unscramble the encryption on DVDs. The court acknowledged
the industry's "statutory right to protects its economically valuable
trade secret" but decided that the right to maintain trade secrets is
less "fundamental" than the Constitution's First Amendment right to
freedom of speech. A DVD industry spokesman said that the decision
"would be a devastating blow to the U.S. economy, and makes absolutely
no sense. The decision is crazy.  Beyond our case, if this decision
becomes the law of the United States, all trade secrets are
unconstitutional." (San Jose Mercury News 2 Nov 2001)
http://www.siliconvalley.com/docs/news/svfront/decss110201.htm


It can/will be appealed to California Supreme Court.



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