[free-sklyarov] Re: [fairuse-discuss] 2600 Drops DECSS Appeal

Wed Jul 3 21:04:01 PDT 2002

Can we now work on a legistlative agenda....

On Wed, Jul 03, 2002 at 08:24:27PM -0400, Seth Johnson wrote:
> 
> 
> (Forwarded from DVD Discussion list,
> dvd-discuss at eon.law.harvard.edu.  Article text pasted
> below.  -- Seth)
> 
> -------- Original Message --------
> Subject: [dvd-discuss]2600 DROPS DECSS APPEAL
> Date: Wed, 3 Jul 2002 16:01:15 -070022, 2002) at 07/03/2002
> 04:01:17 PM,Serialize complete at 07/03/2002 04:01:17 PM
> From: "Michael A Rolenz" <Michael.A.Rolenz at aero.org>
> Reply-To: dvd-discuss at eon.law.harvard.edu
> To: dvd-discuss at eon.law.harvard.edu
> 
> http://www.2600.com/news/display.shtml?id=1233
> 
> ----
> 
> 2600 DROPS DECSS APPEAL
> 3 Jul 2002 19:09:42 UTC
> 
> Yes, it's true. After numerous consultations with our legal
> team and all kinds of internal debate, we have decided that
> we've gotten the DeCSS case as far as we can. We won't be
> bringing it to the Supreme Court. 
> 
> While we share the disappointment many of you will feel, we
> think it's very important to understand why this is the
> proper course of action. Our chances of the case being taken
> up by the Supreme Court were very slim. And it was the
> nearly unanimous opinion of all of the legal experts we
> consulted that the current Supreme Court wouldn't take our
> side. Either of these results could have caused a setback to
> the overall fight that we're engaged in. To continue would
> have meant putting our egos ahead of the best legal
> strategy, something we're not about to do. 
> 
> The DeCSS case may have focused on us but it was about so
> much more. That's why we had to look at the bigger picture
> when making this decision. The MPAA and their cronies went
> out of their way to choose a defendant (us) that the court
> system would be prejudiced against. That's the one part of
> the case they got right. But what they didn't count on was
> the massive amount of support that came our way from all
> kinds of communities - support that continues to this day.
> In a way, the MPAA has brought a lot of us together. And
> that has made us stronger as a group. 
> 
> While it's tempting to think of this as a defeat, we must
> look at the good that has come out of it. People the world
> over know all about the DMCA and are committed to
> overturning it. The amount of education that has occurred in
> the last two and a half years is simply phenomenal. There
> are many other combatants now in the fight and we have never
> been more convinced that we will ultimately prevail. 
> 
> The war has not ended. Only the frontlines have changed. We
> are convinced that when all is said and done, this will be
> seen as the best strategy. 
> 
> 
> The Electronic Frontier Foundation has released the
> following statement: 
> 
> San Francisco - The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF)
> announced today that online and print publisher 2600
> Magazine will not seek U.S. Supreme Court review of a court
> order prohibiting publishing or linking to the DeCSS
> computer program. This decision ends the publication's
> two-and-a-half year legal battle over DeCSS, which permits
> DVD owners to use players that the entertainment industry
> has not approved. 
> 
> "We took several steps forward with this case, forcing the
> courts to recognize that freedom of speech was at stake,"
> explained EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. "Later cases will
> provide a better foundation for the Supreme Court to act on
> the problems created by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act
> (DMCA)." 
> 
> Kathleen Sullivan, the Dean of Stanford Law School, argued
> the case on behalf of 2600 Magazine. 
> 
> In December 1999, eight major motion picture studios sued
> 2600 Magazine for publishing an article containing the DeCSS
> computer software and linking to DeCSS. Norwegian teenager
> Jon Johansen developed and published the software to great
> public interest, especially in the Linux community. The New
> York Times, the San Jose Mercury News, the Village Voice,
> and several other mainstream news outlets reported on and
> linked to DeCSS' publication in addition to 2600 Magazine's
> coverage. 
> 
> Johansen created DeCSS in an effort to develop an open
> source software player that would allow people to play their
> lawfully purchased DVDs on computers running the Linux
> operating system. But since people may also use the DeCSS
> program as one step in infringing the copyrights of DVD
> movies, both the New York District Court and the 2nd Circuit
> Court of Appeals interpreted the DMCA as banning 2600
> Magazine from publishing or linking to DeCSS. 
> 
> "This case served as a wake-up call to the Internet
> community," said 2600 Magazine publisher Emmanuel Goldstein.
> "We have a stronger, more united community now, and we will
> support future cases." 
> 
> "EFF and 2600 Magazine will strive to ensure that the public
> need not sacrifice its side of the copyright bargain to
> Hollywood's fears of piracy," said EFF Intellectual Property
> Attorney Robin Gross. Gross added that EFF is considering
> other DMCA challenges and recently issued a three-year
> report card detailing the law's faults. 
> 
> In a related victory for DeCSS proponents, a California
> Court of Appeals held that the preliminary injunction
> violated the First Amendment rights of Andrew Bunner, a
> DeCSS republisher in California. The California DVD case is
> currently pending before the California Supreme Court.
> 
> ____________________________
> New Yorkers for Fair Use -
> because it's either fair use or useless....

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