IP: Tech-Savvy Indiana Student Snared in California Court

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

>
>Electronic Frontier Foundation Media Advisory
>
>For Immediate Release: July 11, 2001
>
>Contact:
>
>Allonn Levy, Attorney, HS Law Group, +1 408 295-7034 x384,
>   ael@hsapc.com
>
>Robin Gross, Attorney, Electronic Frontier Foundation,
>   +1 415 436-9333 x112, robin@eff.org
>
>
>Tech-Savvy Indiana Student Snared in California Court
>
>Court Reconsiders Due Process for Alleged Software Publisher
>
>
>Debate over whether Indiana student Matthew Pavlovich
>must appear in a DVD software publication case will continue
>tomorrow, July 12, in a California court. In December 2000,
>a unanimous California Supreme Court ruled that the
>appellate court must reconsider its decision requiring
>Pavlovich to defend himself in a California court.
>
>The movie industry trade group DVD-CCA continues attempts
>to force Pavlovich and 500 anonymous posters located all
>over the world to defend themselves against alleged trade
>secret misappropriation despite the hardships these
>alleged web publishers would face in a legal battle fought
>far from their homes.
>
>"The importance of Constitutional restrictions on the reach
>of state courts has never been more important than in the
>Internet age," said Pavlovich's attorney Allonn Levy, of
>the HS Law Group. "Without the proper application of these
>safeguards, the Internet will become a liability minefield
>for users, facing nation-wide legal exposure anytime they
>publish to the Internet, dramatically chilling speech on
>the Web," explained the San Jose litigator.
>
>"The US Constitution's due process clause guarantees that
>you will not be sued in Santa Clara, California, 2000 miles
>away from the Indiana student dormitory where you surf the
>web," stated Robin Gross, EFF staff attorney for
>intellectual property and Pavlovich's co-counsel.
>
>In December 1999, DVD-CCA sued hundreds of individuals,
>including Indiana college student Matthew Pavlovich, for
>allegedly publishing DeCSS software on a website that hosted
>various Linux-based open-source projects.
>
>The movie industry, represented by its trade group DVD-CCA,
>filed the lawsuit in California alleging trade secret
>misappropriation.  The suit attempts to force Pavlovich and
>500 anonymous posters located all over the world to defend
>their Internet publication of the software in California.
>
>Trial and appellate courts both denied Pavlovich's
>motion for dismissal, but in a rare move last December,
>the California Supreme Court unanimously granted
>Pavlovich's petition for review and sent the matter back to
>the appellate court for argument on why the non-California
>resident with no connection to the state should remain in
>the case.
>
>The U.S. Constitution's due process clause limits a state
>court's ability to assert power over out-of-state
>defendants who have no connection with that state.
>
>DeCSS is free software that allows people to play DVDs
>without technological restrictions, such as region codes,
>preferred by movie studios.
>
>At a January 2000 hearing, Santa Clara County Superior Court
>Judge William Elfving ordered defendants to remove postings
>of DeCSS pending the case's outcome at trial. The 6th
>Appellate Circuit court will hear EFF's appeal of Elfving's
>ruling this fall.
>
>The appeals court has stayed the alleged trade secret
>misappropriation case pending the outcome of Pavlovich's
>jurisdictional motion.
>
>The California 6th Appellate Court will hear arguments
>on the case on Thursday, July 12th at 9:30 a.m. at
>333 W. Santa Clara St., 10th floor, in San Jose,
>California.  For directions see
>http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/courts/courtsofappeal/6thDistrict/
>
>See Pavlovich's appellate motion to dismiss for lack of
>jurisdiction:
>http://www.eff.org/sc/dvdcca/20000921_pavlovich_appeal.html
>
>See DVD-CCA's opposition to original request for dismissal:
>http://www.eff.org/sc/dvdcca/20000825_dvdcca_opp.html
>
>EFF's Archive on California DeCSS case:
>http://www.eff.org/pub/Intellectual_property/DVDCCA_case/
>
>Cryptome.org Archive with more legal filings:
>http://cryptome.org/cryptout.htm#DVD-DeCSS
>
>
>About EFF:
>
>The Electronic Frontier Foundation is the leading civil
>liberties organization working to protect rights in the
>digital world. Founded in 1990, EFF actively encourages
>and challenges industry and government to support free
>expression, privacy, and openness in the information
>society. EFF is a member-supported organization and
>maintains one of the most linked-to websites in the world:
>http://www.eff.org/
>
>                         -end-
>
>



For archives see: http://www.interesting-people.org/