Legal victory for 'DVD hacker'

An appeals court has cleared a Norwegian man of DVD piracy charges.
The court upheld an earlier verdict that Jon Johansen, 20, had not broken
the law by creating a system that could get around copy protection on
DVDs.

The ruling is a setback to anti-piracy efforts by the Hollywood studios.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) said it was disappointed
by the court's decision, saying it encouraged others to circumvent
copyright controls.

Free to copy

The case was seen as a major test of Norway's computer protection laws

Mr Johansen, known as "DVD Jon" by the net community, created his program
to watch films on a Linux-based computer.


The actions of serial hackers such as Mr Johansen are damaging to honest
consumers everywhere
MPAA statement
He then posted the program onto the net in 1999.
His software, called DeCSS, could decrypt disks by stripping the Content
Scrambling System from DVDs.

The US movie industry had accused DVD Jon of theft. But an Oslo court said
in January 2003 that he was free to do what he wanted with DVDs he bought
legally.

The appeals court has now agreed with the original ruling, throwing out
the case of the MPAA.

In her 30-minute ruling, Judge Wenche Skjeggestad said Mr Johansen could
freely copy DVDs he had bought, adding he had not violated Norway's laws
protecting intellectual property.

'Damaging' ruling

In a statement, the MPAA said it was disappointed by the ruling, but it is
not clear whether it will take the case to Norway's supreme court.

"The actions of serial hackers such as Mr Johansen are damaging to honest
consumers everywhere.

"While the ruling does not affect laws outside of Norway, we believe this
decision encourages circumvention of copyright that threatens consumer
choice and employment in the film and television industries."

The Hollywood studios say piracy costs them $3bn a year in lost sales.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/technology/3341211.stm

Published: 2003/12/22 15:04:00 GMT

© BBC MMIII

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