DeCSS was co-authored by Norwegian Jon Johansen at the age of
15, who claimed to have written the software to allow him to play
his own DVDs on his Linux-based PC. The Linux operating system is
incompatible with CSS, the Content Scrambling System.
Now 20, Johansen, known by some as 'DVD Jon', was last month
cleared by a Norwegian appeals court of all charges relating to the
DVD security cracking software.
But DVD companies had also taken action against people and
businesses that had published the DeCSS software code on the
internet.
DVD-CCA, the organisation that licences CSS for Hollywood movie
studios, originally filed the lawsuit in December 1999 and obtained
the lower court's injunction in January 2000 against Andrew Bunner,
who had published the code on his web site.
The appeals court overruled the lower court injunction in
November 2001. It had ruled that the trial judge failed to consider
the First Amendment (free speech) rights of Bunner to republish
information readily obtainable in the public domain when it issued
the injunction. Bunner had republished DeCSS on his web site after
reading about it on Slashdot.org and deciding it was
newsworthy.
DVD-CCA then appealed to the California Supreme Court to
challenge the appeals court's ruling. It contended that
republication of DeCSS software constitutes illegal
misappropriation of a trade secret. A ruling on the case was
pending, until Thursday's announcement that the DVD-CCA was
dropping the case.
Cindy Cohn, Legal Director of the Electronic Frontier
Foundation, a civil rights group involved in the action on Bunner's
behalf said: "DeCSS has been available on hundreds if not thousands
of websites for four years now". She added, "We're pleased that the
DVD CCA has finally stopped attempting to deny the obvious: DeCSS
is not a secret."
According to CNET News.com a statement issued on behalf of the
DVD-CCA explained that the case was no longer necessary.
